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REMINISCENCES 



OF AN 
OCTOGENARIAN 



HUNGARIAN EXILE 



BY 

JULIAN KUNE 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



CHICAGO 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1911 



Copyright 1911 

BY 

JULIAN KUNE 



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V 



INTRODUCTION. 



This Volume, which is dedicated to the many kind 
friends who advised me to write and publish the same, 
contains the description of the principal events of my 
life, from the time I entered the Hungarian army of 
liberation in 1848 until 1873, when I resumed my busy 
life on the Chicago Board of Trade, which I had in 1869 
temporarily abandoned. 



CONTENTS. 
PART I. 



The Author's Place of Birth i 

The Magyars 3 

Louis Kossuth 4 

Kossuth as Editor 7 

Kossuth Demanding Reforms 10 

Kossuth in Vienna 12 

Broken Promises 15 

Kossuth's Appeal 17 

Kossuth With An Army Before Vienna 20 

Kossuth Prayer After the Battle of Kapolna (Hun- 
gary's Gettysburg.) 21 

Declaration of Independence 23 

Russian Invasion 24 

The Storming of Buda 25 

Martyrs of Hungary 27 

Kossuth's Farewell Address 28 

Release of Kossuth in 185 1 30 

Kossuth's Certificates to the Author 31 

Kossuth's Speeches 33 

PART II. 

General Bern 34 

The Battle of Piski 37 

General Bem's Genius 43 

Schumla, Bulgaria 44 

A Bedouin Chief's Gift 47 

Arrival in Aleppo 49 

Massacre at Aleppo 51 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

Death of General Bern 52 

Trip Across the Syrian Desert 54 

City of Damascus ( Sham) 58 

PART III. 

Alexandria, Egypt 65 

Arrival in England 67 

London 67 

Hartford, Connecticut 69 

Arrival in Chicago 72 

Martin Koszta 74 

Jonathan Young Scammon 75 

William B. Ogden 79 

My Political Life 81 

The Decatur Convention 83 

The Presidential Campaign of i860 84 

Interesting Interview With Abraham Lincoln 87 

PART IV. 

Abraham Lincoln's Election 90 

Fort Sumter Fired On 93 

The Spring of 1861 93 

Organizing a Regiment 94 

Ordered to the Seat of War 100 

Election of Regimental Officers loi 

Crossing the Missouri River 102 

Col. U. S. Grant in Mexico. Mo 103 

PART V. 

The Twenty- fourth Illinois at Mexico 105 

Leonard Sweet and General Grant 107 . 

Gen. John C. Fremont and His Brilliant Staff 109 

Jessie Benton Fremont iii 

Recruiting for Mounted Artillery 112 

Horseback Ride With General Grant 113 

Colonel Ransom 114 

Personal Explanations 115 



CONTENTS vii 



PART VI. 



Joins the Board of Trade 125 

First Home Visit In Twenty Years 129 

Meeting Artists 131 

Periodical Visits To Budapest 133 

For the Seat of War 133 

Sedan 139 



PART VII. 

The Franco-Prussian War 144 

From Sedan to Meaux 149 

Arrival at Lagni 151 

Walk to Ferrieres 153 

Copy of Royal Permit 155 

Buying a Horse 157 

The Siege of Paris 158 

Starting for Versailles 159 

Arrival at Versailles 162 

The Arrest of an Editor 163 

My Visit to Saint Cloud 165 

My Report to General Sheridan 169 

On a Foraging Expedition 169 

Meudon 170 

First Excursion to Bougival 173 

Monte Christo 174 

King William's Arrival at Versailles 176 

The King's Headquarters at Versailles 177 

The Castle of Meudon Destroyed 177 

The Playing of the Fountains 178 

My Meeting with Hans Blum 179 

Peace Conditions Discussed 180 

Bombardment of Bougival 181 

Meeting Count Von Bismarc'c 182 

An Unsuccessful Sortie 183 

An Evening with Dr. Bush 186 

Thiers in Versailles 187 



viii CONTENTS 



PART VIII. 

False Rumors Fly Thick and Fast i88 

Friction at Versailles 189 

Winter and Snow 192 

My Last Tour Around Paris 193 

Montmorency and Enghien 194 

An Elegant Supper 196 

Ducrot's Army Broken Up 197 

The Re-clothing of the German Army 198 

Hunting for Franctirreurs 198 

The Imperial Crown Offered to King William 199 

Celebrating Christmas 200 



PART IX. 

The Bombardment of Paris 202 

Peace Preliminaries 203 

End of the Siege 204 

Social Life in Versailles 204 

War Correspondents at the Siege of Paris 205 

Reflections on the Siege 207 

An Appeal to Chicago 208 

Homeward Bound 208 

Kriegseinzug (Triumphal Entry Into Berlin of War 

Veterans) 209 

Marienbad 212 

Musical and Dramatic Performance in Aid of Chi- 
cago 213 

Trip to Russia 213 

Fourth of July Celebrated at Vienna 215 

World's Fair Venture at Vienna in 1873 216 



REMINISCENSES OF AN 
OCTOGENARIAN HUNGARIAN EXILE 



PART I. 



The author of these Reminiscences is far from flat- 
tering his amour propre in believing that the incidents 
and the people he will describe in them will create 
more than a slight ripple on the surface of the over- 
flooded literature of our age ; nevertheless he will ven- 
ture to undertake the attempt in relating such hap- 
penings in connection with distinguished individuals 
whom he either personally knew, or else had abso- 
lutely reliable information regarding their lives and 
acts. 

Without entering into any biographical narrative, 
I will simply state that my birthplace is a modest 
and unpretentious little town called Belenyes, which 
is equivalent to the English Buffalo, evidently because 
many ages ago it must have been the abiding place 
of the wild buffalo. The town is situated in the 
county of Bihar, and it cosily nestles among the foot- 
hills of the lesser Carpathian Mountains that divide 
Hungary from Transylvania, or Siebenburgen in Ger- 
man, and Erdely Orszag in Hungarian. 

As it would not be of any particular interest to 

1 



2 REMINISCENCES 

the readers of these sketches to follow my childhood 
or even my adolescence, before I had reached the age 
of seventeen, when I entered fresh from College, in 
1848, the army of the Hungarian Revolution, I will 
pass it, and will merely state that my first experience 
in that war, in the early days of 1848, was in the so- 
called Banat, the most fertile section of Hungary, 
where the Serbs or Servians, predominating, at the in- 
stigation of the Austrian Government, rose in insur- 
rection against the newly formed constitutional Gov- 
ernment of Hungary, 

Without entering into the details of one of 
the greatest struggles for independence, Hungary 
although not having yet attained the apex of its aspi- 
rations — namely, an Independent Republic — is today 
nevertheless a country governed by a constitution 
called the Golden Bull that antedates the English 
Magna Charta, and which was granted to it over one 
thousand years ago. 

It stands to reason, being a native of Hungary, 
that my first sketches must necessarily be of Hungarian 
men and characters with whom the writer came in 
contact, and in order that the readers of these sketches 
may have an intelligent conception of the characters 
and incidents described, it will be necessary to give a 
short and cursory description of Hungary and also of 
the reputed origin of the Magyars. 

THE MAGYARS 

Coming from the regions about the Volga, they 
crossed the Carpathians in A, D. 889, under the lead 
of Duke Almos. The seven tribes of which the nation 



THE MAGYAKS 3 

then consisted subsequently occupied ancient Panno- 
nia under the lead of Arpad. For one hundred and 
eleven years they were governed by their Dukes 
(Vezereck) until Duke Vaik embraced Christianity and 
was crowned as St. Stephen, First Apostolic King of 
Hungary, A. D. 1000. Pope Sylvester presented him 
with the Iron Crown with which he was crowned, and 
sent Bishops from Germany into Hungary to help 
christianize the Magyars. The language adopted to 
assist in christianizing the Magyars was Latin, of 
which the common people did not understand a single 
word. 

The reign of St. Stephen (Szent Istvan) was the 
beginning of a new era in the Uves of the Magyars. 
When the seven tribes of the Magyars settled in Pan- 
nonia they were united under a solemn compact guar- 
anteeing justice and equality to all alike, so that when 
St. Stephen began to reign the general feeling of the 
nation was faithfully to adhere to that solemn com- 
pact, and they at first refused to obey the mandates of 
the newly introduced clergy, with the result of many 
bloody religious wars and massacres. As they were 
still untutored in the arts of industry and civilization, 
St. Stephen imported various artisans from Germany. 
Having led a nomadic life, they considered the working 
of the soil as menial and below the dignity of a Mag- 
yar. St. Stephen further subdivided the country into 
Counties, forced the people to pay tithes to the clergy, 
and organized a national council, the higher branch 
being composed of temporal and spiritual lords; then 
there was a lower house of Nobility, called the sandal 
nobility (Bocskoros Nemes Ember). 



4 REMINISCENCES 

With the death of St. Stephen, the native dynasty 
became extinct, and between 1290 A. D. some kings 
that were legitimate and other usurpers ruled the 
country until 1516, when the line of the Hungarian 
Kings became suddenly extinct with the death of 
Louis II., who fell at the Battle of Mohacs, fought 
with the Turks. This battle is designated as the 
Graveyard of Hungarian Independence. 

Sometimes nations, like individuals, fail to practice 
the Golden Rule as laid down by the Nazarene, and 
thus the mistakes they commit change their current 
of life. The Magyars, although converted to Chris- 
tianity during the tenth century, A. D., instead of 
following the teachings of the Gallilean Prophet, 
obeyed the edicts ot their spiritual advisers, the Bish- 
ops and the clergy of the Catholic Church. The fatal 
mistake made by the Hungarian nation was when, 
owing to the intermarriage of one of their former 
Kings to a member of the House of Hapsburg, they 
transferred St. Stephen's crown to that dynasty. 

The events which transpired in Hungary since St. 
Stephen's time are matters of history, and as it is the 
writer's intention to give brief sketches of men and 
incidents which had more or less bearing on his life, 
he has naturally selected as his first subject the person 
who above all others was instrumental in changing 
the current of events in his life. That person is 

KOSSUTH LAJOS 

Or, as he is better known outside of his own land, 
Louis Kossuth, who fills the highest niche in Hunga- 
rian history, and occupies the same position in the 



KOSSUTH LAJOS 6 

estimate of his countrymen which has been accorded 
to Washington and Abraham Lincoln in American 
history. His greatness, however, resembled more 
that of Lincoln than Washington. Of comparatively 
low origin, he, by virtue of his great genius and 
incomparable oratory, as well as by his self-sacrificing 
industry for the benefit of his fellow-countrymen, 
gained the highest pinnacle of fame and an everlasting 
place in the affections of a grateful people. He, like 
Lincoln, manumitted millions of slaves, serfs which 
were but slaves, not by the stroke of the pen, as Lin- 
coln did, but by the thunder of his voice, as he fear- 
lessly stood before Emperor Ferdinand, the fifth, 
demanding the abolishment of all feudal service 
throughout the realm. It is noteworthy that this con- 
cession was the only one that was not abrogated sub- 
sequently by the Austrian Imperial Government. Thus 
proving once more the truth of the saying that "Revo- 
lutions never go backward." They may for a time 
deviate from their onward and forward course, but 
they are always directed back to their true course by 
an all-wise and infinite Ruler of the Universe. Thus 
the five million peasants freed through the influence 
of Louis Kossuth became and forever remained free. 
Louis Kossuth was born April 27th, 1802, in the 
county of Zemplin, Hungary, in the same county where 
400 years before the great Hunyadi died. His phe- 
nomenal rise as an advocate, editor, orator, statesman, 
and finally as the governor-president of his country, 
demonstrates that neither country, race or conditions 
can limit the potential abilities of inborn genius. Kos- 
suth, although originally not of the dominant Magyar 



6 REMINISCENCES 

race, was singled out by an all-wise Providence to lead 
his fellow countrymen, as did Moses of old, out from 
bondage. He thus became the quickening spirit, urg- 
ing on not only the Magyars but all other nationalities 
of his and neighboring countries, to throw off their 
long endured political slavery. 

While representing an absent delegate in the upper 
house of the Diet, he stenographically copied and cir- 
culated the daily proceedings of the Diet, which was 
contrary to the arbitrary code of the Imperial Govern- 
ment. He kept this up in spite of the official warn- 
ings received, and was arrested May 4th, 1837, and 
taken to prison. He was thus detained for a whole 
year before he was granted a trial; The trial being 
but of the ordinary farce trials, he was sentenced to 
the fortress of Buda as a prisoner for four years. Kos- 
suth, imprisoned, however, turned out to be more 
powerful than while he was free, and it so happened 
that when the Imperial Government in 1840 wanted 
Hungary to furnish more troops to the army, the Diet 
flatly refused to furnish them unless the two political 
prisoners, Kossuth and Baron Vesselenyi, were liber- 
ated. The Government finally bowed to the inevitable, 
and set Kossuth and the blind baron free on May 15th, 
1840, after having been incarcerated for three years. 

The popular demonstration during that night of his 
release prophetically indicated the coming great events 
of succeeding years in Hungary. But the blind, des- 
potic power of the Government could not, or would 
not, discern the political barometer, Kossuth was es- 
corted through the cities of Buda and Pesth by an 
immense procession of torch bearers. Shortly after 



KOSSUTH AS AN EDITOR 7 

this he withdrew from the public to Parad, a mountain 
watering place, in order to regain his much impaired 
health, in consequence of his cruel confinement. On 
his return from the mountain resort, he married, Jan- 
uary 10, 1844, Teresa Meszlenyi, a very amiable lady, 
who, soon after his incarceration opened a correspon- 
dence with the martyr prisoner, which soon ripened 
into friendship and finally culminated in their mar- 
riage. 

KOSSUTH AS AN EDITOR 

On January 1st, 1841, Kossuth became the editor 
of the Pesti Hirlap, (Pesth Gazette). This was the 
opportunity he was long waiting for ; although the lib- 
erty of the press in the Austrian monarchy was yet 
unborn, it afforded him, as the editor of a paper, an 
occasional chance to drive the naked truth home into 
the hardened consciousness of the oppressor. 

In 1843, in order to obtain better treatment for his 
native land, Kossuth inaugurated a general boycott 
on all manufactured goods coming from Austria, out- 
side of Hungary. The immediate effect was that in 
order to retain their Hungarian trade, many of the 
Austrian manufacturers transferred their plants to 
Hungary. 

In 1847 Kossuth was brought forward as a candi- 
date for the Diet from Pesth, by his friend Count Louis 
Batthanyi, who afterwards fell a martyr to Austrian 
vengeance. Notwithstanding the many machinations 
of the Government he was elected. The wild enthusi- 
asm which this election of the modern Demosthenes 
created all over the country beggars description. It 
was likened by some to the religious demonstration 



8 BEMINISCENCES 

by the followers of Peter the Hermit during the first 
Crusade. I was attending college at that time in Szar- 
vas, whose president was the celebrated Hungarian 
lexicographer, Ballaghi Mor (Moritz Bloch). I well 
remember that, owing to the intense excitement pre- 
vailing over Kossuth's election, and his heart-stirring 
speeches in the National Assembly, the students of our 
college devoted more time to the discussion of the 
political events of the day than to their studies. "£1- 
jen Kossuth" (long live Kossuth) became the battle- 
cry of the throngs that nightly gathered in front of the 
Casino to listen to the patriotic utterances of the pro- 
fessors and students. The great patriot and "orator 
with the flaming tongue," as he was aptly named, was 
at that time the central sun of Magyar constellation. 
Both magnate and peasant bowed before his greatness ; 
the peasant, especially, almost worshipped him. I 
may be pardoned if I here quote the very eloquent 
tribute which the great editor, Horace Greeley, gave 
to Louis Kossuth in his introductory remarks to the 
Life of Louis Kossuth by Headley. He says : "A 
voice from the far Pannonia, with the eloquence of 
a Demosthenes and the sublime fervor of an Isaiah, 
it utters burning words, which call men from divers 
creeds and races to the battlefield in which the rights 
of all are to be asserted." 

Kossuth's entry into the National Assembly in 1848 
signalized the beginning of a new era in Hungary's 
history. By his extraordinary eloquence he aroused 
the dormant aspirations of his nation by inviting it to 
reenter the glorious path which it followed centuries 
ago and before its absorption by Austria. 



KOSSUTH AS AN KDITOK 9 

I have often wondered at the mistaken ideas which 
prevailed, and still prevail to a great extent, that the 
Hungarian war of Independence was the outgrowth of 
the French Revolution of 1848. On the contrary, the 
many eloquent revolutionary speeches of Kossuth 
plainly presaged a violent political upheaval in Europe. 
It was the French Chamber of Deputies which drew 
its inspiration from these speeches. The great influ- 
ence which these fiery denunciations exerted upon the 
political world of those days may be inferred from 
what a foe, and not a friend of Kossuth, said about 
the great orator and his orations. He said: "His 
speeches were at that time (1847) like burning arrows, 
which he hurled into kindred minds, thereby urging 
them to a frantic enthusiasm. His oratory was like a 
large battery, with heavy pieces of ordnance, whose 
discharge did the most fearful execution. The poison- 
ous sting of his interpretations, his despotic power in 
the house and his intrigues (?) out of doors, formed 
in themselves a power, so to say, of an army against 
the stand-still policy of Metternich." Such was the 
tribute accorded to Kossuth by an opponent, but evi- 
dently a spellbound admirer of his unmatched elo- 
quence and power. 

During the session of 1847, the Diet, among others, 
adopted the proposition that all the peasants of the 
Kingdom, of whatever race or religion, should be at 
once exempted from all urbarial dues and obligations 
to their landlords, the latter to receive an indemnity 
from the^Siate. The proposition was passed, and thus 
five million serfs were made freemen by the eloquent 



10 BEMINISCENCES 

advocacy of Louis Kossuth, long before the French 
Revolution took place, in 1848. 

KOSSUTH DEMANDING REFORMS 

On the 4th of March, 1848, or two days after the 
news of the French Revolution reached Pressburg, 
then the capital of Hungary, Kossuth rose in the Diet 
to speak on a motion of inquiry on the condition of 
the National Bank, whose notes were refused both 
in Hungary and Bohemia. Among other things re- 
ferred to, he said: "The local question in relation to 
the Bank I will not now discuss. It is true, Magyars, 
Austria has embarrassed us long enough. But this 
is a secondary matter. What we ought to ask for is 
the budget of the Hungarian receipts and expenses, 
which have hitherto been mixed up with those of our 
neighbors. We ought to ask for the constitutional 
administration of our finances. We ought to ask for 
a separate and independent financial board for Hun- 
gary. For, unless we have this, the foreign Govern- 
ment which rules us without our advice, is likely to 
embarrass our finances to helplessness." 

Then again : "Mighty thrones, supported by politi- 
cal sagacity and power, have been overthrown, and 
nations have fought and won their liberty, who three 
months ago could not have dreamed of the proximity 
of such an event. But for three whole months we 
are compelled to roll the stone of Sisyphus incessantly 
and without avail." 

After closing his speech with an impressive perora- 
tion, he moved an "address to the throne," in which 



KOSSUTH DEMANDING REFORMS H 

a series of reforms were demanded, which was unani- 
mously adopted by the National Assembly. 

These events were certainly sufficient to arouse the 
wildest enthusiasm all over Hungary. When the cop- 
ies of the Pesti Hislap reached Szarvas, where I then 
attended the Junior class of the college, all classes 
were dismissed spontaneously, and while the faculty 
was discussing in whispers the happenings at the 
capital, the students celebrated the event with vocifer- 
ous cries of "filjen Kossuth." 

Among the reforms demanded in the address to 
the throne the most prominent were : First, the abo- 
lition of serfdom ; second, the equalization of taxes ; 
the further development of the representative system 
of Government, and a responsible Ministry. Kos- 
suth's design was to demand these concessions, not 
for Hungary alone, but as far as applicable, for all 
the States under the Government of the Emperor 
of Austria. He possessed sufficient statesmanship to 
know that a constitutional government in Hungary 
alone could not harmonize with an absolute and des- 
potic administration in the other States of the Em- 
pire. He forcibly put himself on record in the follow- 
ing: "With a Constitutional Government secured in 
Hungary, it was then the proper and holy mission 
of our nation, as the oldest member of the Empire, 
to raise its voice in behalf of those sister nations under 
the same ruler, and who are united to us by so many 
ties of relationship. Lovers of Freedom, we would 
not ask liberty for ourselves alone. We would not 
boast of privileges that others did not enjoy. A Con- 
stitutional and despotic crown could not be worn by 



12 REMINISCENCES 

che same head, any more than two opposing disposi- 
t'ons can harmonize in the same breast at the same 
time." 

Kossuth at that time did not contemplate the sepa- 
ration of Hungary from Austria. His aim was to 
remind Emperor Ferdinand of the sacredness of the 
oath he took as the Constitutional King of Hungary. 

Kossuth, in moving the above reforms, was far 
ahead of the conservative upper house of the Diet. 
The many years of Austrian tutelage had reduced 
the life members of that body, composed as it was of 
the high nobility of the realm and the Roman Catholic 
Bishops, to mere automatons of the Austrian Cama- 
rilla. They were horrified at the boldness of Kos- 
suth's propositions and demands. 

KOSSUTH IN VIENNA 

While the Delegates at Pressburg were pondering 
over the recently passed reform demands, the revolu- 
tion in Vienna broke out. The news of this outbreak 
reached Pressburg while the Diet was in session. It 
created a great surprise, except to Kossuth, who ex- 
pected it. The Aula, composed of the students of the 
Vienna University and the intellectual portion of 
Vienna's population, formulated and submitted their 
demands to the Emperor, who, overawed by fear, 
granted everything demanded of him. The revolu- 
tionary spirit had also permeated the soldiers of the 
Vienna garrison, who refused to fire at the assembled 
multitudes, who were ordered to disperse by the reac- 
tionary Ministry. Metternich's dismissal was asked 



KOSSUTH IN VIENNA 13 

for and speedily granted. The liberty of the press 
was also granted, and so was trial by jury. 

While the delegates in the Diet had hardly recov- 
ered from their amazement over the Vienna news, 
Kossuth arose and calmly asked the Diet to send a 
deputation to the Emperor at Vienna, demanding an 
immediate dissolution of the Chancellery and the sub- 
stitution of a responsible cabinet in its place, as guar- 
anteed by the Constitution of the land. He closed his 
speech with the following inspiring words: "For 600 
years, Magyars, we formed a Constitutional State. We 
will, therefore, that from this moment on Ministers 
shall again sit upon these benches, to hear and answer 
our questions ;" with a graceful sweep of his arms 
he pointed to the ministerial seats, which had been 
vacant for many years. "From this day on we wish 
to have a Hungarian ministry." The response was a 
unanimous affirmative vote. The committee was ap- 
pointed, with Kossuth at its head. The committee 
appeared at Vienna on March 13, 1848. The Vienna 
people hailed it with great rejoicing. In their un- 
bounded enthusiasm they carried Kossuth on their 
shoulders to the palace. There he met face to face 
the Emperor by whose orders he had been incarcer- 
ated only a few years before. Calmly, and conscious 
of his power to destroy the tottering throne of the 
Hapsburg dynasty, he laid the demands before the 
Emperor, The courtiers, in their rich dress uniforms, 
that were covered by glistening decorations, were 
relegated to the rear, while two figures stood in the 
foreground of this most remarkable scene, worthy of 
the brush of a Titian. The one, Kossuth, the whilom 



14 REMINISCENCES 

prisoner of Buda, representing millions of his country- 
men, demanding their God-given rights, and the other, 
Ferdinand V, Emperor of Austria, a representative 
of the exploded theory of despotic Government by 
"divine right." For a minute the trembling Emperor 
hesitated, but as the deafening demonstrations of the 
assembled multitudes in the streets below reached 
his ears, and as he saw Kossuth suggestively point his 
finger at the open window, he yielded, and granted 
everything that was demanded. 

There was a time when the writer thought that 
Kossuth committed a fatal mistake, when, holding the 
destiny of the Hapsburg dynasty in the hollow of his 
hand, he did not then and there destroy the pernicious 
and oath-breaking tyranny, for he certainly had it in 
his power to do so during the scene above referred 
to. But an experience gained through a tempest- 
tossed life brought to me the absolute conviction that 
the teachings of the Bible, which says : "Vengeance 
is mine," is after all preferable to being our own 
avenger, for in the end, evil, no matter of what nature, 
destroys itself. 

As a result of that interview, a Hungarian Ministry 
was named, with Louis Bathanyi as Prime Minister 
and Louis Kossuth as Minister of Finance. Among 
others who held portfolios in this Ministry were Deak, 
Szemere, Meszaros, Klauzel, Count Sechenyi, Baron 
Oetves, and Prince Esterhazy, all very eminent repre- 
sentative men. The recital of the succeeding events 
to the establishment of a Constitutional Government 
in Hungary belongs to the historian. Only such inci- 



BEOKEN PKOMISES 15 

dents with which Kossuth is principally connected will 
be referred to. 

BROKEN PROMISES 

Not of the Machiavelian type of statesmanship, 
Kossuth, fully trusting the Emperor's oath-bound 
promises, devoted his whole time to the task of dis- 
entangling the finances of his country. While he was 
devoting his energies to building up the National 
credit, the conspirators surrounding the Austrian 
throne were at work, undermining the Constitutional 
rights granted recently to his country. The fact is, 
that the intrigues were hatched only a few minutes 
after the Emperor granted the Hungarian deputation 
its demands. The first open sign of Hapsburg 
treachery manifested itself on June 1st, 1848, when 
the Servians inhabiting the Banat and Bacska, in the 
Southeastern part of Hungary, rose in insurrection 
against the newly organized Constitutional Govern- 
ment. The Croatians, a race occupying the territory 
which is an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary, 
also rose in rebellion. They were persuaded to be- 
lieve that the Magyars, the dominant race of the King- 
dom so far as numbers were concerned, wished to 
withhold from them, as well as from all other races, 
the privileges and rights recently exacted from the 
Central Government, and that the Magyars would 
take away from them their own, the Croatian, 
language. Of course all this was false, but an old 
law of 1832 was cited, which made the Magyar tongue 
the official tongue of the Hungarian Kingdom. This 
law was passed in order to replace the Latin language. 



Ig REMINISCENCES 

which for centuries had kept the masses of the people 
in ignorance, because a comparatively small propor- 
tion of the people were conversant with Latin. It is 
a well established truism that ignorance is an ever- 
ready handmaid of a despotic Government. 

This double dealing on the part of the Emperor 
and his surrounding satellites aroused the ire of all 
right thinking denizens of the country, with the ex- 
ception of the above mentioned Croatians and Ser- 
vians. A Colonel of a Croatian regiment (a great 
favorite of the Camarilla, at whose head stood the 
Archduchess Sophia, mother of the present Emperor) 
Baron Joseph Jellaschich, was appointed Ban (Gov- 
ernor) of Croatia, with instructions and authority to 
lead the revolt in Croatia. 

The struggle with the insurrectionary Servians had 
now begun in dead earnest. The various seats of 
learning had closed several weeks before the usual 
time for the year's vacation. The students were 
hurriedly flocking to their respective homes, in com- 
pliance with a call from their respective cities and 
counties. At the suggestion of Kossuth, Onkenytes 
(Volunteer) battalions were formed, in order to stem 
the Servian revolt. The writer and his elder brother 
were among those who entered the ranks. During 
the three months spent in the Banat, fighting the 
Servians, there were no great engagements. The 
fighting was more of a desultory nature, more like 
the fighting of the Missouri Bushwhackers during our 
Civil War. The atrocities committed by the insurgent 
Servians were of such a revolting and barbaric nature 



KOSSUTH S APPEAL 17 

that the writer's pen is reluctant to write them down ; 
therefore it is best to leave them unrecorded. 

Kossuth's appeal to parliament for 2CX),000 men 

Kossuth's handicap in his course as a statesman 
was his over-tender heart and a never-doubting dispo- 
sition in the sincerity of those he had dealings with. 
Being himself actuated by the sole desire to do all 
for the benefit of his fellowmen, he put implicit confi- 
dence in the sincerity of the Emperor's promises. He 
once more addressed a petition to the Emperor, pray- 
ing that he should repudiate the recently committed 
illegal acts of the Ban of Croatia. Fearing the dis- 
pleasure of the Hungarian Nation, while his army in 
Italy was meeting with reverses, Ferdinand hypocriti- 
cally expressed his indignation at these acts, ordering 
the Ban to appear at once before him, and in a royal 
manifesto he branded him a traitor to his country. 
The duplicity and double dealing of the Austrian Court 
was, however, soon revealed by the supplies furnished 
to the insurgent Ban, both in money and arms. Kos- 
suth, unable to restrain his indignation any longer at 
this double dealing, used his powerful oratory during 
the session of the Diet in July, 1848, to great advan- 
tage. While he still refrained from calling the Em- 
peror a traitor, his burning words indicated the com- 
ing storm. In one of his great speeches before the 
Diet, on July 11th, 1848, he said: "In ascending the 
tribune to demand of you to save our country, the 
greatness of the moment weighs oppressively over my 
soul. I feel as if God had placed into my hands the 
trumpets to arouse the dead, that, if still sinners and 



18 EEMINISCENCES 

weak, they may relapse into death, but that they may 
awake for eternity, if any vigor or life be yet in them. 
Thus, at this moment, stands the fate of the nation. 
Gentlemen, with the decision of my motion God has certi- 
fied to your hands the decision affecting the life or 
death of our people. — ^That nation alone will live which 
in itself has vital powers. That which knows not how 
to save itself by its own strength, but only by the 
aid of others, has no future." 

In urging the Diet to adopt his resolution creating 
an army of 200,000 men, he continued: "This day 
we are Ministers; tomorrow others may take our 
place. No matter, — the Cabinet may change, but thou, 

my country, must forever remain. I declare sol- 
emnly and expressly that I demand of the House 
200,000 soldiers and the necessary pecuniary grants. 
This is my request. You have all risen, to a man, and 

1 bow before the National greatness. If your energy 
equals your patriotism, I will make bold to say that 
even the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Hun- 
gary." 

Before the last sentence was finished, the four 
hundred representatives, with one voice, repeated the 
words of Paul Nyary, "Megadyug" (We will give it). 

It may be opportune to repeat here the criticism of 
one who frequently heard Kossuth speak : "His speeches 
combine the Arabian fervor of Mohammed and the 
religious earnestness of Cromwell." While this criticism 
may show the mental power which Kossuth's speeches 
exerted on his listeners, it fails to do justice to his 
logical and convincing arguments, employed to convert 



AN INDEFATIGABLE WOEKEE 19 

his listeners to his mode of looking at the subject un- 
der consideration, 

KOSSUTH AN INDEFATIGABLE WORKER 

When the time for action had arrived, Kossuth, the 
agitator, the silver tongued orator, was replaced by 
Kossuth, the hard working Minister of Finance. As 
a member of the National defense, he worked day and 
night to raise and equip the army which he had called 
into existence. Nor was this an easy task, for the 
National Treasury was empty, owing to the misman- 
agement of the Metternich policy to tax the people 
to the utmost and spend the money for the benefit 
of the reigning house of Hapsburg and its satellites. 
Kossuth, however overcame all difficulties. His call 
to arms was responded to by both 3'-oung and old rush- 
ing to rally around the National banners. His activity 
was limitless. In order to save time, he often dictated 
to his secretaries three letters in as many different 
languages. The established policy of the Austrian 
Government having been to keep all arsenals and pow- 
der mills out of the reach of the Hungarians, the nation 
lacked both powder and arms. Kossuth, with his in- 
defatigable energy, established factories and caused the 
gathering of pyrites in the various copper mines to 
replace the lack of sulphur, which is necessary for the 
manufacture of powder. 

It is needless here to describe the many battles 
fought, the many victories gained, and the defeats suf- 
fered by the patriotic army of Honveds. I will merely 
refer to those which may have some bearing on the 
subject of the present sketch. 



20 EEMINISCENCES 

KOSSUTH WITH AN ARMY BEPORE VIENNA 

On October 24th, 1848, Kossuth arrived at Paren- 
dorf, the rendezvous of the Hungarian troops march- 
ing towards Vienna. As he started to speak, his in- 
tense emotion caused his voice to falter after the 
words, "My bleeding country;" but soon recovering, 
he delivered a most powerful harangue to the assem- 
bled troops : "Magyars," he said, "there is the road to 
your peaceful homes and firesides ; yonder is the path 
to death, but it is the path of duty. Which will you 
take? Every man shall choose for himself. We want 
none but willing soldiers." In answer to this appeal, 
30,000 Hungarian soldiers shouted: "Liberty or 
death." 

While with the army at this time, Kossuth evinced 
an unsuspected talent, — namely, that of a tactician and 
strategist. While the battle was in progress, the un- 
disciplined Croats, led by the Ban, Baron Joseph 
Jellachich, were thrown into disorder. Kossuth or- 
dered the Commander of the Hungarian army. General 
Moga, to advance and storm Schwechat, only a few 
miles distant from Vienna. He saw at once that with 
Schwechat taken, the fate of the Austrian army would 
be sealed. General Moga, however, refused to obey 
Kossuth's order, whereupon he was relieved of the 
command, and General Gorgey took his place. Much 
valuable time had been lost, and the Viennese, who 
were besieged by Windisgraetz's army, despairing of 
getting any help from the Magyars, surrendered un- 
conditionally. Had Kossuth's suggestion been carried 
out, and the siege of Vienna raised, in all probability 



KOSSUTH'S PRAYEE 21 

there would have been a different ending to the Hun- 
garian struggle for independence. 

The failure of the Hungarian army's advance to 
Vienna, and its subsequent capitulation, was followed 
by many unfortunate engagements, until at last the 
Hungarian capital was removed from Pesth to De- 
bretzen, in the central part of Hungary. 

Kossuth's prayer after the battle of kapolna 

By brilliant strategy, and some hard fought and 
gained victories, the tide of fortune had again changed ; 
but not before the Hungarian nation had been baptized 
in the blood of its thousands of fallen heroes. At 
the battle of Kapolna, fought Feb. 27, 1849, the Hun- 
garians retained their position, but alas, at what a 
fearful cost of lives. In many particulars the battle of 
Kapolna may be likened to the battle of Gettys- 
burg. Kossuth, like Abraham Lincoln, consecrated 
the battlefield, after the carnage was over, by a 
never-to-be-forgotten oration. Here are some ex- 
tracts from this wonderful outpouring of Kossuth's 
soul : "My God, Thy bright sun shines above me, while 
beneath my knees rest the bones of my fellow broth- 
ers. Thy stainless azure over-canopies us, but be- 
neath, the earth is red with the sacred blood of the 
children of our fathers. — Consecrate this spot by Thy 
grace, that the ashes of brothers who have fallen in 
this sacred cause may rest in hallowed repose. For- 
sake us not in the hour of need. Bless our efforts to 
promote that liberty of which Thine own spirit is the 
essence. For to Thee, in the name of the whole people, 
I ascribe all honor and praise." 



22 EEMINISCENCES 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

The fortunes of war having changed in favor of 
the Hungarians, Kossuth and the Diet, sitting in the 
improvised capital, Debretzen, had decided that the 
time had come when the nation should declare itself 
independent. So on the 14th of April, 1849, emulating 
the example set July 4th, 1776, in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, they declared Hungary "Thenceforth in- 
dependent of the reigning house of Habsburg Lor- 
raine." 

The declaration of independence, which was the 
product of Kossuth's master mind, also said among 
other things : "We also hereby proclaim and make 
known to all the inhabitants of the United States of 
Hungary and Transylvania, and their dependencies, 
that all authorities, communes, towns and civil officers 
are completely set free and released from all their obli- 
gations under which they stood, by oath or otherwise, 
to the said house of Habsburg Lorraine, and that any 
individual daring to contravene this decree, and by 
word or deed in any way to aid or abet violating it, 
shall be treated and punished as guilty of treason. And 
by the publication of this decree we hereby bind and 
obligate the inhabitants of these countries to the obedi- 
ence to the Government instituted formally and en- 
dowed with all necessary legal powers." 

The new birth of the old nation was hailed by both 
the people and the military in the field. The Rus- 
sian vanguard of 15,000 men, as well as the main por- 
tion of the Austrian army, had been driven into Wal- 
lachia by the indefatigable General Bern, Commander- 



DECLABATION OF INDEPENDENCE 23 

in-chief of the Hungarian forces in Transylvania. The 
garrison at Rothenthurmer Pass, of which the writer 
was a member, was resting, after having driven both 
Austrians and Russians over the borders into Wal- 
lachia, when the news of the declaration of indepen- 
dence reached it. The event was celebrated by the 
firing of cannon and the parading of the troops. Only 
the news of the storming of the fortress of Buda cre- 
ated an excitement equaling it. 

Kossuth's daily life in Debretzen, while working 
out his country's problem, in which his very life was 
bound up, was a very strenuous one. He had a large 
room for the reception of his visitors. In this large 
room he had constantly several secretaries at work, 
taking dictation from him in several languages at the 
same time. He invariably worked until after mid- 
night. It has been said that during these strenuous 
days, when his medical adviser would drop in on him, 
in order to inquire after his health, he would extend 
his left hand to him to examine the pulse, while his 
right hand would be busily plying the pen on some im- 
portant state document. During those days all the 
recreation he allowed himself was the occasional romp- 
ing with his children, or taking short drives with his 
family. Whenever he showed himself in public the 
people would greet him with enthusiastic shouts of: 
"jfiljen Kossuth" (Long live Kossuth), The love which 
the people bore their deliverer bordered almost on wor- 
ship. The only fault they would find was his extreme 
tender-heartedness. They would say: "He is alto- 
gether too good ; he treats his enemies as he does his 



24 BEMINISCENCES 

friends." "Yes," they would say, "he is altogether 
too good." 

RUSSIAN INVASION 

With the turning of the fortunes of war, Hungary's 
enemies had been increased by 130,000 Russians, who 
had crossed the frontier, and made a combined army of 
300,000 men, Austrian and Russian soldiers, as against 
135,000 patriots fighting for the nation's independence. 
The commissary and quartermaster's department were 
hardly worthy of their name. While the uniforms and 
accoutrements furnished by the quartermaster's de- 
partment would last at the outside a few weeks, they 
could not be replaced readily when worn out after hard 
campaigning. As to the commissary department, we 
virtually had none; at least not in the army corps in 
which the writer was engaged. We had to depend on 
the supplies furnished us by the cities and towns 
where we were stationed, and while in the field we had 
to get along with raw bacon and stale bread, carried 
along" in wagons in the rear of the moving army. And 
as to tents, — during my whole period of campaigning 
I had never seen a tent, not even during the most 
severe cold weather. 

I am relating these things merely to show how illy 
prepared was the patriotic army to resist the onslaught 
of the well-disciplined and well-fed troops of our ene- 
mies. But what we lacked in material resources, Kos- 
suth supplied to a large extent with his burning elo- 
quence, a spirit of resistance both to the soldiers in 
the field and the people at large, that was quite won- 
derful to behold. 



— H 




THE STORMING OF BUDA 35 

THE STORMING OF BUDA 

The storming and taking of Buda was a feat worthy 
to be recorded in the annals of death-defying heroism. 
It was a most dazzling victory for the ragged and de- 
spised Hungarian Honveds. After a most terrific can- 
nonade, they scaled the walls of the fortress on lad- 
ders, in the face of a most destructive musketry fire 
from its defenders. All defense was, however, in vain 
against the audacious rush of the scaling Hungarians, 
for as quick as one fell from the scaling ladders, two 
took his place. The fort was taken and its Comman- 
der, General Henzi, fell pierced with bullets and bay- 
onet thrusts. His death was worthy of a better cause. 

In those days the electric telegraph was as yet 
unknown, so that important dispatches were trans- 
mitted by the so-called tower telegraph system, 
through signal flags, as used by the signal corps of 
armies. On the 23rd of May, 1849, our garrison at 
Rothenthrum was ordered out on dress parade, and 
the following stirring news was read to it by its Com- 
mander, Colonel Ihasz: "The Fortress of Buda is in 
our hands. The firing has ceased on all sides ; Buda 
is conquered. May the nation gather fresh courage 
and enthusiasm from the example of this success. May 
the combat which is still impending be short, and the 
liberation of the country complete. Pray to God and 
thank Him for the glory he has vouchsafed to grant 
the Hungarian army, whose heroic deeds have made it 
the bulwark of European liberty. Debretzen, 22nd 
May, 1848. (Signed) The Governor of the Common- 
wealth, Kossuth Lajos." 



9t EEMINISCENCES 

An old Latin proverb says: "Fama manet; For- 
tuna periti (Fame remains; Fortune is lost). The 
storming and taking- of Buda was undoubtedly a very 
flattering achievement, and an act of heroism, but ac- 
cording to subsequent events it was the fatal rock on 
which the structure of Magyar independence was 
wrecked. Instead of spending three precious weeks 
before the gates of Buda, had Gorgey with his victor- 
ious army followed up their success in recapturing the 
old capital of Pesth by pursuing the enemy, they could 
easily have marched into the imperial city of Vienna, 
where they would have been in a position to dictate 
terms to the Austrian Government. But the fatal 
delay gave General Welden, who succeeded Windis- 
graetz as commander-in-chief of the Austrian army, 
plenty of time to reorganize the weakened army, and 
to resume the offensive in combination with the Rus- 
sian hordes, who by this time began crossing the 
frontier. 

I shall not discuss the persistent rumor at that 
time, and ever afterwards afloat, that Gorgey by his 
actions betrayed the confidence which Kossuth and 
the nation had placed in him. Volume after volume 
has been written on that subject. It was sufficiently 
plain to me then, while carrying the musket, and ever 
afterwards, that a fatal mistake was made in not fol- 
lowing up the retreating enemy. Another great mis- 
take was made later by turning over the Government 
to Gorgey, thus giving him the power to complete 
his treachery, if such it was, by surrendering at Vil- 
dgos. I am now writing down incidents in Kossuth's 
life, before and after exile, and I think it would be of 



MAETYBS OF HUNGARY 2% 

doubtful propriety for me to express my opinion here 
as to whether Gorgey was a traitor or not. The same 
fatal error was committed by the famous Rakotzy, 
during the early part of the seventeenth century, who 
when hard pressed by the battalions of Emperor Jo- 
seph, he turned over the government to one of his 
leading Generals, Count Karolyi, and thereby the Re- 
public was lost. 

The many disasters attending the Hungarian arm- 
ies, after the fall of Buda, portended the beginning of 
the end. The army in Transylvania, where I served, 
was expelled by the overwhelming combined forces 
of Austria and Russia. The 55th Battalion, of which 
I was a member, stationed at the Rothenthurmer Pass, 
fought its last battle for Hungarian independence on 
the 20th of July, 1849, when it was driven across the 
border into Wallachia, then a Turkish province, where 
it laid down its arms. After many hardships endured 
in its march through Wallachia, it reached Widdin, 
Bulgaria, on the shores of the Danube, where for the 
first time the worn and footsore members of our Bat- 
talion heard of the total collapse of the Hungarian 
War of Independence. 

MARTYRS OF HUNGARY 

One word about the never-to-be-forgotten day of 
September 4th, 1849. Hungarians and their descend- 
ants to the thousandth generation will ever remember 
with horror the butchery committed by the Austrian 
General Haynau, to whom the Hungarian army was 
delivered after its surrender to the Russians. Ages and 
ages of continuous penance will be required to wipe 



28 EEMINISCENCES 

out that atrocious act, which at the time shocked the 
whole civilized world. I herewith give the roll of 
honor of those who were executed at Arad on Sep- 
tember 4th, 1849 : 

General Aulich, Minister of War. 

Lieutenant General Kiss. 

General Damjanich. 

General Nagy Sandor. 

General Desseffy. 

General Leiningen, cousin of Queen Victoria. 

General Vecsey. 

General Torok. 

General Lahner. 

General Poltenberg. 

General Knessich. 

General Schweidel. 

General Count Lazar. 

Colonel Kazinczy. 

Kossuth's farewell address. 

After issuing a farewell address to his bereaved 
country, Kossuth crossed the frontier at Orsowa 
August 18th, 1849, and when my battalion reached 
Widdin he was already there, with some thousands 
of other refugees. 

As we were more than half prisoners, our camp on 
the shores of the Danube being guarded by a cordon 
of Turkish soldiers, there was no opportunity of see- 
ing our Ex-Governor or listening very often to his 
inspiring and cheering words. On one occasion only 
did he pay us a visit, when the proposition to turn 
Mohammedans was brought by courier from Stambul. 



KOSSUTH'S FAEEWELL ADDRESS 29 

That was the first time I ever had the pleasure of 
seeing him. He spoke to officers and men alike, tell- 
ing them that they were to settle the changing of their 
faith between themselves and their God; but as for 
himself, he would rather face the hangman than for- 
sake the faith of his forefathers. The proposition to 
have the Hungarian refugees change their faith, in 
order to prevent them being delivered to Austria or 
Russia, came from the Turkish Divan, for* then as they 
claimed, they could call up the law of the Koran, 
which forbids the delivering of a Moslem to Chris- 
tians. When, however, the negative reply was deliv- 
ered at Constantinople, Sultan Abdul Medjid, one of 
the most tender-hearted rulers that has ever sat on a 
throne, exclaimed : "Not one of these Magyars shall 
be delivered. I would rather lose 500,000 men than 
to deliver them." His decision was supported by the 
Sheik ul Islam (the head of the Moslem church). Some 
of the refugees voluntarily embraced Islamism, among 
whom was the celebrated General Bem, who did it 
more from political motives. 

It is but justice to the honor of the British nation 
to record here, that the British fleet under Admiral 
Parker was ordered to Besica Bay to support Abdul 
Medjid in refusing to deliver the Hungarian refugees 
to Austria. They entered the Dardanells. 

Soon after this episode the majority of the rank 
and file, having been promised immunity from pun- 
ishment, returned to Hungary, but most of them were 
enrolled in the Austrian army. 

After having been transpot ted to Schumla, Bul- 
garia, where we stopped for some weeks, the Hun- 



30 BEMINISCENCES 

garian refugees were separated in two parts. Kossuth 
and his followers, mostly officers of high rank, were 
sent to Kutaiha, Asia Minor, where they were kept 
as guests of the Turkish Government. They were 
paid stated salaries, according to their rank, for sub- 
sistence. General Bern, with another set of officers, 
was sent to Alleppo, Syria, where they, including the 
writer, were kept equally as guests of the Padishah 
until after the release of Kossuth in 1851. 

RELEASE OF KOSSUTH IN 1851 

On the afternoon of September 7th, 1851, the U. S. 
Steamer Mississippi, Captain Long, Commander, 
sailed from Constantinople up the Dardanells. A Turk- 
ish frigate also left the moorings in the Bosphorus for 
Gemlik where Kossuth and his comrades were to em- 
bark. Kossuth arrived at Southampton October 23d on 
the steamer Madrid, which he took at Gibraltar. There 
arose some ill feeling between Captain Long and Kos- 
suth over his addressing the French people who gath- 
ered at the wharf of Marseilles where Napoleon re- 
fused to let him land and cross France over to Eng- 
land. 

As it is a well known fact that the release of Kos- 
suth was effected by the United States Government, 
through the indefatigable exertions on the part of the 
then celebrated Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, 
and other freedom-loving men in Congress, like Wm. 
H. Seward, Thomas Corwin, Richard Yates of Illinois, 
and many more of like prominence, I shall pass here 
the description of the means employed for his libera- 
tion, and simply state that when I arrived in Nevr 



KOSSUTH'S CEBTinCATEa 31 

York, In the early spring- of 1852, as special bearer 
of an important message from General Kmetty, who 
had tarried in London after having left Aleppo, I met 
Kossuth for the first time face to face at the Irwing 
Hotel, New York, he having arrived December 6th, 
1851, on the steamer "Vanderbilt;" as he passed Gov- 
ernor's Island, a salute of 38 guns was fired. Grasp- 
ing me warmly by the hand, he congratulated me at 
my final delivery from my persecutors, and at once 
asked me if he could be of any service to me, financially 
or otherwise. Thanking him for his kindness, I said 
that I had a little money for the present, that would 
carry me until I found some work to do, in order to 
earn my living in this land of the brave and the free. 
He thereupon asked his secretary to write out the 
certificate which I herewith incorporate; also the one 
he sent me from Kutaiah, certifying to my service in 
the Hungarian Army during the war of liberation. 

Kossuth's certificates to the writer 

Wherewith the undersigned testifies that Mr. Kune 
Julian was serving in the v;ar of independence in 
Hungary in the 55th Battalion as non-commissioned 
officer and Lieutenant, with untiring zeal and bravery, 
until the end of the war. By testifying the above, I 
at the same time recommend said Mr. Kune to the 
kind notice and patronage of all to whom he may apply. 
New York, June 26, 1852. (Signed) L. Kossuth." 

(Seal of the Hungarian Governor President.) 

Translation from the French of the certificate Loula 
Kossuth sent me while I was residing at Aleppo, 
Syria : 



32 REMINISCENCES 

CERTIFICATE 

The undersigned, Governor of Hungary, testifies 
that Mr. Julian Kune has faithfully served his country 
during the war of Hungary's liberation in the army 
of Transylvania in the 55th battalion, as private, cor- 
poral and sergeant, and having himself so distinguished 
in several battles, and especially in the battle of Roth- 
enthurmer Pass, that according to the authentic testi- 
mony of his brigade commander, he merited to be dec- 
orated by the military order of the third class, of which 
announcement was made in the official Monitor. After 
the brave garrison of Rothenthurmer Pass was com- 
pelled, after a most glorious resistance, to withdraw 
into Wallachia, and after the catastrophe of the coun- 
try brought about through Gorgey's treason, had aug- 
mented the number of refugees in the camp at Widdin 
to 4,000 men, it became necessary to nominate some 
energetic commissioned officer, the said Julian Kune 
was, in consideration of his energy and personal brav- 
ery, nominated lieutenant in the Hungarian army. In 
giving him this certificate I recommend the said lieu- 
tenant, as a man of honor and a brave officer, to the 
good will of those to whom he may apply. 

Kutaiah, Asia Minor, March 1st, 1851. 
The Governor of Hungary. (Signed) Kossuth Lajos." 

''Seal of the Hungarian Governor President.) 

kossuth's speeches 
The speeches Kossuth delivered, both in England 
and the United States, have become classics of the 
English language. They all bear the sign of the out- 
pourings of an honest heart, of one who had conse- 



KOSSUTH'S SPEECHES 33 

crated his whole life to liberate his nation from the 
oppressors. Although he, like Moses of old, was not 
granted to enjoy the fruitage of his arduous task, it 
nevertheless resulted in a grand success, for the seeds 
of liberty he had sown in 1847, '48 and '49 have now 
about fully matured and are ready for the harvest. 
Hungary, although not as yet independent, enjoys now 
a most liberal constitutional government. 

I will close this sketch with a few words from the 
Leeds "Mercury" (England). Its editor, after listen- 
ing to Kossuth's speeches at Manchester and Birming- 
ham, said : "Next week may enable us to recover and 
use judgment after the too-inspiring appeals of the 
suffering patriot, whose voice yet rings in our ears 
like a trumpet with a silver sound." Weeks, months, 
and sixty years have passed, and the cool judgment of 
the world is, that past or contemporaneous history has 
not produced an orator who could convey his thoughts 
with such an easy grace, and with such an irresistible 
flow of language, as did Louis Kossuth, the orator and 
patriot. 



PART II. 

GENERAL BEBt 

Having served during the Hungarian War of Inde- 
pendence, under General Bern, the writer will turn 
back the narrative of his reminiscences to the time 
when he enlisted in the 55th Battalion of Honveds 
(Home Defenders) at his native town. As previously 
mentioned, he had served three months in the Banat 
as a member of the National Guard, or of the Onkenytes 
(Volunteers) as they were designated. 

During the three months' service in the Banat I 
saw but little of real fighting in the open field. The 
service of the National Guard mostly consisted of 
picket duty and keeping the insurrection of the Serv- 
ians from spreading. As soon as the 55th Battalion 
was organized in Nagy Varad (Gross Wardein) it 
left for Transylvania (Siebenburgen in German and 
Erdely Orszag in Hungarian) under the command of 
Major Ihasz, who subsequently became the com- 
mander of our brigade and one of Kossuth's fellow 
exiles at Kutaiah in Asia Minor. 

We crossed the frontier about the 1st of February, 
1849, and after several days of severe marching we 
arrived at Deva, February 7th, and there we became 
part of the division commanded by Major Hrabowski. 
This division was hurriedly formed and pushed for- 
ward in order to increase General Bern's army, which 

84 



GENERAL BEM 35 

was being pushed hard by the Austrian General Puch« 
ner with an overwhelming force. Bern, only one day 
before our division joined him, had the middle finger 
of his right hand shot off, in his attempt to defend the 
only two cannons he had. 

A few words about the title subject of this sketch 
will bring out the justification of his having been 
named as the most successful and most dashing of 
Hungarian generals by his admirers. 

Joseph Bem was born in Tarnov, Austrian Poland, 
in 1795. He received a military education, and like 
many of his compatriots, served in the Polish Legion 
under Napoleon I. He subsequently was involved in 
the Polish insurrection of 1831, the collapse of which 
caused him to make his domicile in Paris, France, 
where in various ways he earned a living by teaching 
military engineering, in which he was an expert. 

On the breaking out of the revolution in Vienna 
he hurriedly repaired to that city, while on his way 
to Hungary to offer his services in behalf of constitu- 
tional freedom. The Viennese, aware of his splendid 
military attainments, and of his having served under 
Davoust and Macdonald in the Napoleonic campaign 
of 1812, urged him to accept the command of the de- 
fense of the Austrian capital. After much hesitation 
he yielded to the popular demand. He immediately 
concentrated all his energies in strengthening the de- 
fenses of the city, expecting an investment by the 
Austrian army under Prince Windisgraetz. Owing to 
the incapacity of the Viennese revolutionary leader, 
Messenhauer, and to the undecided action of the com- 
mittee of defense in calling the 35,000 Magyars, who. 



36 REMINISCENCES 

under the leadership of Kossuth were at the gates of 
Vienna waiting to be invited to enter the city, which 
was held against the ever-increasing enemy, on the 
29th of October, 1848, finally had to capitulate uncon- 
ditionally. It is heartsickening even to recall the cruel 
butcheries that followed the surrender of the city. 
I will merely mention one martyr, the world-wide cele- 
brated Robert Blum, whose son, Hans Blum, was the 
correspondent of the Leipzig illustrated "Daheim" 
during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, and a boon 
companion of the writer of this sketch, who repre- 
sented the Chicago "Tribune." 

General Bem, after the capitulation, left Vienna by 
slipping through the Austrian army, and presented 
himself at Pressburg, Hungary, before the "Committee 
of Defense," presided over by Louis Kossuth, to whom 
he offered his services. The most complicated and 
difficult problem at that time presented itself in Tran- 
sylvania, an integral part of Hungary proper, where 
the Wallachians predominated in numbers, and who 
were induced to rise in insurrection against the newly 
constituted Hungarian government by a leader named 
Janko, a very popular and cunning man among the 
Wallachians. At that time illiteracy in Hungary was 
much more prevalent than now, so that Wallachians, 
in an almost semi-barbaric state, were easily misled. 

Kossuth wisely sent General Bem to Transylvania 
to suppress the Wallachian insurrection and to oppose 
a rapidly concentrating Austrian army under General 
Puchner; besides the advance guard of the invading 
Russian army had already crossed the frontier, form- 
ing the reserve to the Austrian army. 



THE BATTLE OF PISKI 37 



THE BATTLE OF PISKI 



It has been my experience, acquired during three 
campaigns, that the active fighters — by which I mean 
the rank and file and company officers — are, on but rare 
occasions, able to give an accurate description of the 
battle engaged in. Their minds are too intently cen- 
tered on the vi^ork allotted! to them, so that the move- 
ments of other troops, not immediately connected with 
their own, are unknown; nor can they keep track of 
the strategy or tactics, either of their own or the ene- 
my's commanders. A true description of the Battle 
of Piski would be quite difficult to give from my own 
personal observation, but combining my personal ex- 
periences with the official reports of the various com- 
manders, a tolerably correct idea may be obtained of 
the Battle of Piski — one that was unrivaled in fierce- 
ness, heroism, audacity and the higher tactics. 

The 55th Battalion of Honveds, under the com- 
mand of the then Major Ihasz, composed of 1,200 men 
and officers, reached Deva on the 7th of February, 
1849. The 11th Honved Battalion having reached 
there before us, the two battalions were formed into a 
brigade, under the command of Major Hrabowsky. 
Not having any commissary department, we were bil- 
leted on the inhabitants of the city, the majority of 
whom were Wallachians, and strong sympathizers with 
the insurrectionary movement of their race. The fact 
is, that most of the male population of the city were 
absent and in the ranks of the insurgents, hovering in 
the mountains in the vicinity of Deva. 

In billeting our men, the officers took the precau- 



38 BEMINISCENCES 

tion to assign to each dwelling not less than ten to 
fifteen men, with one corporal or sergeant. I fortu- 
nately was assigned in command of about twenty men 
into a house belonging to a Magyar. After a fair, but 
not very sumptuous supper, we stretched ourselves 
on the floor of the largest room to snatch some rest 
and sleep before the dawn of the coming day, which 
may prove the last to many a poor fellow. About one 
o'clock after midnight, I was awakened by the dismal 
wailing of our landlady, who with lighted candle in 
hand, entered our room, telling us : "Oh, you poor 
boys, the Wallachians under Janko are swooping down 
on you from the mountains." No sooner were the 
warning words heard than I aroused the men, who in 
an instant were up and under arms. Meanwhile the 
long roll of the drum, that ominous sound which, 
strange to say, always produces in the breast of the 
soldier martial ardor and not fear, was calling the 
whole brigade to the previously designated rallying 
place, where in less than ten minutes stood 2,500 men, 
ready to obey the commands of their officers. 

The Wallachians, who were seen along the sides of 
the mountains, realizing that for this time taking the 
Magyars by surprise was a failure, disappeared in their 
mountain fastnesses, after we had thrown a few cannon 
balls among them. The plan evidently was to surprise 
us, and while the Austrian garrison, which was hold- 
ing the fort at Deva was pouring its shells into our 
midst, the Wallachians would give us the finishing 
coup de grace by massacreing us. 

Notwithstanding the failure of this plot, the brigade 
was kept under arms the balance of that night. Hav- 



THE BATTLE OF PISKI 39 

ing thrown pickets around the brigade, the men and 
officers were allowed to break ranks and throw them- 
selves on the frozen ground. At early dawn we re- 
ceived some requisitioned bread and raw bacon, some 
of which was eaten as breakfast and the balance 
shoved into our canvas haversacks. This done, we 
started on a well preserved military road leading to 
the place called Piski, about one and one-half hours 
distant from Deva. 

We had not been on the march an hour before we 
heard from the direction of Piski the booming of the 
cannon. We now changed from marching in column, 
three abreast (old Austrian tactics), to company for- 
mation, leaving the main road and deploying on the 
corn stubble fields to the right flank, 

Piski was more of a collection of government cus- 
tom house buildings, scattered along the right hand 
shore of the river, called Strigy, or Strehl in German. 
This river flows from north to south until it empties 
only a few miles distant from Piski into the river 
Maros. 

At the beginning of the battle General Bem was 
sick with fever, in consequence of the wound he re- 
ceived while defending the day before the only two 
cannons he had. It is noteworthy that Bem never 
girded a sword around his waist, either in or out of 
battle. He carried a small whip in his hand, which 
sometimes he applied to his horse, and occasionally 
as a weapon of attack against those who dared to at- 
tempt to capture his guns. It was thus that on the 
occasion when he was wounded, he was standing be- 
side his two cannons, directing the aiming himself. 



40 REMINISCENCES 

when a column of Austrian troops made a rush on the 
exposed guns, which at that time were unprotected, 
when he applied his whip to the Austrians who at- 
tempted to disable the guns, with the exclamation : 
"Hey, you rascals, these are my guns ; get away from 
here." The men were so taken aback by an unarmed 
man striking them with a whip that, with the exception 
of the one who shot off General Bem's finger, they all 
decamped, pursued by the protecting guards of the 
cannon, who had meanwhile appeared on the scene. 

As the battalion approached the river in skirmish line 
our men began dropping, being hit by bullets from the 
Austrian sharpshooters, who were concealed in the 
buildings on the opposite shore. Our commander. 
Major Ihasz, at once put spurs to his horse, plunged 
into the seething river, calling to his men, "Follow 
me, boys." The writer, leading the first section of his 
company, followed closely his commander, crossing 
the river that was waist deep and covered with float- 
ing ice. The great difficulty was in keeping our mus- 
kets, which were of the old Zuendnadel pattern, from 
being rendered useless, but lifting them and our cart- 
ridge boxes above our heads, most of us succeeded in 
preventing the water from filling our guns. Once 
across, we charged the buildings with fixed bayonets, 
for that was our only chance of success, and the Aus- 
trians were soon dislodged from their seemingly im- 
pregnable position. 

It was here that the writer had the narrowest 
escape from death during his eventful life. While 
leading his men into a building, whence came the most 
destructive hail of bullets, a young Austrian rificnian 



THE BATTLE OF PISKI 41 

leveled his rifle at the writer, who was almqtfey touching 
it with his back, but providentially, before the Austrian 
could pull his trigger, Nagy Laszlo, a big corporal of 
my company, with a powerful blow from the butt of 
his musket, had knocked the gun out of the Austrian's 
hands and he was about to impale him on his bayonet 
when the writer turning about face prevented it and 
made his would-be slayer a prisoner of war. 

The Austrians were driven back at all points during 
the first two hours of the battle, but the enemy in their 
retreat having destroyed the bridge after crossing it, 
our artillery was delayed some little time by the repair- 
ing of this bridge. Meanwhile, the Austrians being 
reinforced by fresh troops from Hermanstadt, where 
but a few days previous they had repelled an attack 
by General Bem. The Russian reserve army of 15,000 
men also appeared for the first time in the field, not 
actually to participate in the battle, but to intimidate 
the poorly equipped Hungarian Patriots. The tide of 
battle had thus changed, and the Patriot army was 
soon compelled to retreat, the 55th Battalion being 
compelled once more to cross the river, hotly pursued 
by the Austrians, General Bem, who was still invali- 
dated, hearing of the turn things had taken, arose from 
his camp bed, and appeared on the scene of battle just 
as our troops were attempting to cross the bridge in 
retreat. "Ich muss die briicke haben, oder ich werde 
fallen." "I must have the bridge, or I shall be lost," 
were the first words he uttered to his battalion com- 
manders, who with their men, inspired by the brave 
Pole, stormed the bridge and retook the previously 
lost cannon. The 11th and 55th Battalions bore the 



48 BEMINISCENCE8 

brunt of this storming. The battle lasted until dark, 
with varied success to our arms, when the Austrian 
army retreated toward Hermanstadt, leaving in our 
possession many prisoners, cannon, firearms and muni- 
tions of war. We pursued the enemy until about 
11 o'clock that night, when there was made a halt, 
so that our men could gain a few hours' rest. We all 
threw ourselves on the white blanket (snow) which 
covered the frozen ground, and slept, notwithstanding 
the wintry blasts that would have caused our clothing 
to freeze to the body had not the excitement of the 
day kept it at fever heat. The writer up to this day is 
unable to account for or remember how his clothing 
got dry, after crossing the river up to his waist twice 
within twelve hours. 

After a rest of a few hours and a meal partaken of, 
which consisted of roasted dried corn plucked from a 
nearby field, we (the 55th) resumed our march toward 
Szaszvaros. On the 11th of March, 1849, Bem suddenly 
appeared before Hermanstadt, circumvented the Aus- 
trian army, and took the city by storm, its defenders of 
15,000 Russians retreating towards the Wallachian 
frontier. It was a great victory, as it closely followed 
a very bombastic report of the Austrian General Puch- 
ner to Windisgraetz, his superior, in which he said: 
"We have retaken the whole Kokol (river) line, and in 
a few days Bem's army will be either scattered or 
captured." 

From Hermanstadt the Hungarian army advanced 
towards Rothenthurmer Pass, the dividing line be- 
tween Transylvania and Wallachia. then a Turkish 
province, where after a fierce battle on the 25th of 



GENERAL BEM'S GENIUS 43 

March, 1849, both Austrians and their auxiliary Rus- 
sians were driven across the border line into Turkish 
territory by the division under Lieut. Col. Ihasz, our 
former major, but now promoted to the lieutenant 
colonelcy, whose place was taken by Capt. Barothy Laszlo. 
When we consider that Bem, whose troops never 
exceeded 10,000 men, and who were but indifferently 
armed and equipped, did conquer the whole of Tran- 
sylvania, with the exception of two forts, Karlsburg 
and Deva, and expelled an army consisting of 25,000 
Austrians and Russians, within three months, it is no 
wonder that General Klapka, the hero of Komorn, and 
one of our greatest generals of the Hungarian war of 
Independence, should have closed his memoirs with 
the following tribute to Bem: 

GENERAL BEM's GENIUS 

"Bem's campaign in Transylvania is a classical ex- 
hibition of modern warfare. His name will forever 
remain radiant in the Pantheon of great strategists." 

As with all great strategists, Bem's genius shone 
brightest and showed the greatest activity in finding 
new resources when he was hardest pressed. His mind 
during the retreat at Piski was clearest, when medi- 
ocre or inferior strategists would have lost their heads. 
He fairly snatched victory from almost certain defeat. 
He furthermore was very humane in the treatment of 
prisoners. His gallantry was of the old type in vogue 
during the Napoleonic days of the first empire. He 
showed this gallantry by sending General Puchner's 
effects, which the latter had left in his quarters at 
Herraanstadt, to him by two Hussars, and true to the 



44 REMINISCENCES 

example set by his government the latter tried to 
detain the messengers as prisoners of war. 

In my sketch of Louis Kossuth I referred to the un- 
fortunate ending of the War of Hungarian Independ- 
ence, and the congregating of many thousands of Hun- 
garian refugees at Widdin, among whom was also 
General Bem, who, after the unfortunate battle of 
Temesvar, perceiving the beginning of the end of the 
Hungarian War of Liberation, quietly crossed over 
into Servia, then Turkish territory, at Orsowa. whence 
he proceeded to Widdin, which city our battalion (the 
55th) after having had its last fight with the Russians 
on the 20th of July, 1849, had also reached during the 
latter part of August, the interim having been spent in 
Wallachia, marching, camping, burying our poor boys, 
who like flies succumbed to the ravages of the cholera 
prevailing then in Wallachia. Footsore from a month's 
constant marching, in tatters, and most of us bare- 
footed, we were grateful when across the Danube we 
beheld the minarets of Widdin, from whose towers the 
Imam called the faithful to prayer, and many of us 
who had picked up some Turkish phrases from our 
military escorts, exclaimed : "Mashallah ; Allah akbir." 
("Thanks to God ; God is great.") 

SHUMLA 

As heretofore stated, after a few weeks' anxious 
waiting for a decision of what our fate should be, we 
were transported overland to Schumla, during a winter 
the most rigorous Bulgaria had experienced for years. 
The higher officers were lodged in private houses, 
while the rank and file and subaltern officers were 



SHUMLA 45 

housed in the barracks, sharing the quarters and fare 
of the Turkish regiment that accompanied them dur- 
ing their arduous tramping from Widdin. 

After the Babi Humayum (Sublime Porte), which 
consisted of the grand vizier and other high function- 
aries, including the Sheik UI Islam, the chief of the 
Ulemas (Doctors of Law), whose decision of the laws 
of the Koran were final (and Mohammedans in those 
days had no laws except they were founded on the 
teachings of the Koran) had issued their fetwa (de- 
cree) and refused to deliver us to the Russians and 
Austrians, we were divided in two separate divisions, 
as stated before. 

The writer, always having had strong predilections 
for foreign languages, after a few months' intercourse 
with the Turkish officers was able to converse pretty 
fairly in that language, so that when the proposition 
was made to him to accompany General Bem's party 
to Aleppo, Asia Minor, he gladly accepted it. 

Towards the end of February, 1850, we set out on 
horseback for Varna on the Black Sea. Here a Turk- 
ish governmnt steamer was in waiting for us, on which 
we embarked and crossed the temptuous sea during 
the night. Old Neptune was very sore on me, that 
having been my first experience of seafaring, and I 
devoutly wished it should be my last. 

On the following morning, however, as we entered 
the far-famed Bosphorus, our spirits rose to the highest 
level, for there presented itself to our vision a most 
beautiful scene. We were steaming now in the Bos- 
phorus, whose waters washed to the right of us the 
numberless seraglios and kiosks of Sultan Abdul Med- 



I|6 EEMINISCENCES 

jid, the reigning padishah ; on the left was Scutari, in 
Asia Minor. We were astonished at the vast extent 
of the golden horn, one of the largest harbors in the 
world, and which divides Istamboul or Stamboul from 
Galata and Pera, the Christian quarters of Constanti- 
nople. Fate, however, decreed that we should be de- 
nied the privilege of landing on the shores of this 
apparently beautiful city. I say apparently, for as I 
subsequently learned from those who have been and 
lived at Constantinople, the hackneyed saying of "dis- 
tance lends enchantment" applies quite aptly to Con- 
stantinople. 

After passing through the sea of Marmora, the 
Dardanels, the Hellespont, we entered the ^^gean sea 
and made our first and only stop at Rhodes, celebrated 
for its genial climate, as well as for its having pos- 
sessed in ancient days one of the eight wonders of the 
world, namely, the Colossus of Rhodes. After an ex- 
ploration of a few hours, which was graciously granted 
to us by the officers in charge of our escorts, we re- 
embarked and passing on our way Candia, we were 
landed at Alexandrette, an insignificant port on the 
Mediterranean. 

As I remember it, Alexandrette was about the most 
God-forsaken place I have ever visited. Only now 
and then was it honored by tramp steamers and sail- 
ing vessels. It was supposed to have been the port of 
Aleppo. Beyrout, however, was the real port of 
Aleppo, as well as of Damascus. We stopped only 
over night at Alexandrette. 

Early on the following morning our party, consist- 
ing of General Bem, who was now Murad Pasha, Gen- 



A BEDOUIN CHIEF'S GIFT 47 

era! Kmetty, now Ismael Pasha, General Stein, with 
some twenty-odd staff officers and a squadron of Turk- 
ish cavalry, set out on horseback for Aleppo. As in 
those days there was no four-wheeled vehicle in all 
Syria, the road we traversed was a mere trail, which 
caravans followed in going from the sea either to 
Antioch or further on to Aleppo (Halep in Arabic). 
We had been on the road but a few hours when the 
linguistic knowledge of the writer was put to test. 

At almost every hamlet we passed, the chief and his 
Bedouin followers were found lined up at the public 
wells, or rather cisterns. The chief would invariably 
advance, with his right hand touching his heart, head 
and lips, and greet Murad Pasha with "Selam Alech- 
ims." At first it was a mystery to us all, how he 
could tell Murad Pasha from the rest of the officers. 
But later we found that the highest dignitary of a car- 
avan always occupied a certain position in the line of 
march, and he is always attended by one or two body 
servants, who walk or run beside him, resting their 
hands on the back of his charger. The commander of 
our caravan, Mazzar Bey, a colonel of the Turkish 
army, had only closely followed the established custom 
and the Bedouins, who often met traveling Beys and 
Pashas, at once knew where to find the most promi- 
nent individual of the caravan. 

A BEDOUIN chief's GIFT 

At one of these oases between Iskanderen (Alex- 
andrette) and Antioch, a Bedouin chief advanced, lead- 
ing a splendid pure blooded Arabian mare toward Gen- 
eral Bern, reverently saluting him with his "Selam 



48 EEMINISCENCES 

Alechim," and putting the end of the halter into the 
general's hand. The general, unable to comprehend 
such proceedings, turned to me, saying: "What does 
all this mean?" My limited knowledge of Arabic en- 
abled me to ask the Bedouin chief the same question, 
and to learn that he presented the mare, which no 
money could buy, as a gift to Murad Pasha, who, as he 
heard, would command the great armies of the Padisha 
Sultan Abdul Medjid. I explained this extravagant 
speech and the offering of the proposed gift to the 
general, who begged to convey through me his high 
appreciation of the honor, and his thanks for the gift, 
which he positively could not accept. The general's 
treasury was just then too empty to accept such a val- 
uable gift, which would require the giving of a return 
gift of more than twice the value of the mare, which 
would be very near 100 pounds sterling. 

Arrived at the ancient city of Antioch, we made 
there a halt of a day. There is no city in the whole of 
Syria that made such a deep impression on me as did 
this ancient city on the river Orontus, where once the 
Apostles Peter and Paul had been living. Nothing 
was left of its ancient glories, when it had a population 
of over 200,000 inhabitants, an unrivaled aqueduct that 
carried the water to its numerous luxurious public 
bathhouses; when thousands upon thousands visited 
the city to worship in the temple dedicated to Daphne, 
whose celebrated grove was near Antioch. Nothing 
but its ruins, composed of immense blocks of stone, 
remained to tell of its departed glory. Beginning away 
in the dim past, and continuing until 1832, a succession 
of earthquakes caused such irreparable havoc and ruin 



AERrVAL IN ALEPPO 49 

to this once queen of cities that at the time of my 
visit, in 1850, it was but a collection of mud hovels, 
inhabited by not more than 5,000 of a mixed popula- 
tion. 

It was late in March, 1850, when we first beheld the 
ancient city of Halep, where we were destined to spend 
no one knew whether weeks, months or years. The 
Turkish government itself did not know how long we 
were to be her enforced guests, nor did they know 
what to do with us after we had reached our destina- 
tion. All was left to kismet (fate). The Turk is a 
philosopher. He never worries over the future, nor 
does he grieve over the past, but lives for the present. 
If you approach him with any proposition whatever, 
from an offer to buy his house, horse, or anything be- 
longing to him, to informing him that he is to be 
decapitated, he will invariably meet you with his 
"inshallah" (if it pleases God). 

ARRIVAL IN ALEPPO 

It was late one afternoon when we made our entry 
into Aleppo. It was an entry long to be remembered. 
We were met on the outskirts by the pasha command- 
ing the garrison of the city. It looked as if the whole 
population came out to meet us. How news was so 
rapidly transmitted during those days, when there was 
not a single mile of railroad nor a sign of a telegraph 
line in the whole of the Turkish empire, was always a 
puzzle to me. By the reception accorded to us it was 
evident that we had been expected. Every man, wom- 
an and child was eager to catch a glimpse of the cele- 
brated Magyar, Murad Pasha, and his followers, who 



go EEMINISCENCES 

were looked up to by the people as members of the 
pasha's staff. A Turkish general or pasha, when he 
rides or walks out, has more than twenty officers and 
servants waiting upon him. In the first place, a few 
steps behind him on the left, rides or walks, as the 
case may be, a bimbashi (major) aide-de-camp, through 
whom the pasha transmits all orders. Behind the bim- 
bashi come several jusbashies (captains) and milazims 
(lieutenants), who are followed by half a dozen or 
more tshawses (sergeants). These sergeants are often 
times required to do the work of tshibouk and nar- 
ghilla carriers and caffetiers, preparing the coffee and 
filling the pipe with tobacco or the narghilla with tom- 
back, a mild species of tobacco which is exclusively 
used by narghilla smokers. 

After a tedious ride through the dusty town and 
city we reached the barracks, which were situated on a 
hill commanding the city. There was also an ancient 
and dilapidated castle which, however, was not garri- 
soned because of its ruinous condition. 

The month of March in Aleppo is more like the 
month of July in Chicago. With the exception of its 
gardens, which are watered by the river Koeik, vege- 
tation assumes a sear and yellow hue. The heat being 
very oppressive, the streets are deserted during the 
day, and are not filled again until after the setting of 
the sun, when the bazaars, which are very extensive, 
present an animated picture. This is the case more 
especially during the thirty days of fasting, called the 
"Ramezzan." Turks, Arabs, Kurds and Bedouins all 
sit around the various coffee houses, sipping their 
yemen (coffee), smoking their narghillas or tshibouks, 



MASSACRE AT ALLEPPO 51 

and generally taking their keyf (comfort), sitting 
cross-legged for hours on a stool without uttering a 
word unless spoken to. It is the literal carrying out 
of the Italian "dolce far niente" (It is sweet to do 
nothing). 

Our reception at the barracks was commensurate 
with the exaggerated ideas the people of Aleppo had 
of the importance of Murad Pasha's coming into their 
midst. The general impression prevailed that he, be- 
ing such a great general, was sent to Aleppo to keep 
in check the Arabs from their periodical incursions into 
the larger towns and cities, for the main purpose of 
pillaging and murdering its Christian inhabitants. I 
have seen it stated in various biographical sketches of 
General Bem that he, after embracing Mohammedan- 
ism, had entered the Turkish service. Such, however, 
was not the case. Up to his death in 1850, he remained 
the honored guest of Sultan Abdul Med j id, receiving 
the same emoluments which a pasha of the highest 
rank in the service received, namely, that of a mushir 
pasha, which corresponds to the grade of lieutenant 
general in our army.' 

MASSACRE AT ALEPPO 

The report of his having entered the Turkish serv- 
ice must have originated in the active advice he ren- 
dered to the commanding general during the incursion 
and insurrection of 30,000 to 40,000 Arabs and Bed- 
ouins in the autumn of 1850, pillaging and killing 
indiscriminately thousands of Christians. At the out- 
break of the insurrection he moved from a country 
house, situated in one of the surrounding gardens, back 



52 REMINISCENCES 

to the barracks, all the Hungarian officers following. 
It was just in time, for on the day following the mur- 
dering hordes of Arabs laid siege to the barracks, 
which was defended by but 3,000 to 4,000 men and two 
or three batteries of cannons. Couriers were dispatched 
to Constantinople, Damascus, and other points, asking 
for aid, but under the most favorable circumstances at 
least two weeks must elapse before help could reach 
the besieged garrison. The Arabs were perfectly aware 
of this ; hence they made many desperate assaults. It 
was then that General Bem and his Hungaiian officers 
brought their military knowledge and skill into play to 
good advantage, for each assault was repelled with 
the discharge of shells fired at close range, that liter- 
ally covered the space around the barracks with the 
dead and wounded Arabs. 

DEATH OF GENEJRAL BEM 

It was not long after this successful putting down 
of the Aleppo rebellion that Murad Pasha, after hav- 
ing received the thanks of the Padisha, moved back to 
his country place in the gardens. The wounds with 
which his body was literally covered, received in bat- 
tles fought under Napoleon the First, in the Polish 
rebellion of 1831, and the Hungarian war of 1848 and 
1849, began to tell on his health. He was taken down 
with a violent fever, and notwithstanding the efforts 
of his Hungarian physician, Dr. Kallaszdy, he passed 
away early in November, 1850. He was buried with 
all the military honors of a pasha in the service of 
the Sultan, and a tombstone was erected by the Turk- 
ish government to his memory, which, aside from the 



DEATH OF GENEEAL BEM 53 

exaggerated language Orientals use in giving ex- 
pression to their grief, evidences a genuine feeling of 
regret at his untimely demise. 

I have in my possession a true copy in Arabic of 
this inscription on General Bern's tombstone, and I 
will here give a few extracts from the same, if for no 
other purpose than to show how deeply he was revered 
by the Turkish authorities. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE INSCRIPTION ON GENERAL BEM's 
(MURAD pasha) TOMBSTONE AT ALEPPO, SYRIA 

"The illustrious Murad Pasha, who sought refuge 
with the Sublime Porte, having renounced his former 
religion, has embraced Mohammedanism. 

"Fortunate are the mothers who carry in their 
womb such as he. But, alas, how great is his loss! 
Fate (kismet) destined it to be thus with this great 
man. Death at one stroke cut oflf the thread of life 
of this illustrious hero in the city of Aleppo (Halep). 

"That the magnanimity of Sultan Abdul Medjid 
Khan be heralded through all the world as the divinely 
appointed almoner of Providence. May that Provi- 
dence accord him a reign replete with prosperity and 
divine. 

"Helas! His great heroic deeds and his bravery 
shall never be effaced, but shall be written down in 
letters of gold in order to immortalize his grand 
achievements, whose history will be written by sincere 
regrets and tears. 

"The great Allah, whose goodness is infinite, has 
accorded the crown of glory to the Illustrious Murad 



54 EEMINISCENCES 

Pasha, in ceding to him the path of God's elect, which 
is the Jane (the Paradise of Mohammed"). 

Further on the inscription states that the Magyar 
natives, having embraced the true religion, have be- 
come martyrs, etc. But I have quoted a sufficient por- 
tion of this inscription to give an example of Oriental 
word painting. While these exaggerated Oriental ex- 
pressions of grief and joy over his conversion to the 
Moslem faith may have been highly gratifying at the 
time to his friends and admirers, they were not needed 
to place the memory of General Bem among the list of 
great and successful generals of any age. 

TRIP ACROSS THE SYRIAN DESERT 

The death of General Bem exerted a painful im- 
pression on the officers who were his companions in 
exile. Many of them, who had hoped to be actually 
enrolled in the Turkish military service, had now be- 
come indifferent, and were planning to seek their for- 
tunes either in Europe or America. The writer, being 
then only 20 years old, and possessed of a desire for 
adventure, accepted a proposition to enter the service 
as lieutenant aide-de-camp to the Vali, Emin Pasha, 
governor general of Syria, with headquarters at Da- 
mascus (Sham in Arabic). This offer came through 
the kind efforts of Mazzar Bey, a colonel in the army, 
and who acted as our gaoler during our residence at 
Aleppo. Mazzar Bey, who had enjoyed a military 
education in Berlin, Prussia, and who spoke German 
quite fluently, was a kind-hearted gentleman, whose 
only fault consisted of an inordinate love of Raki or 
mastic, as the vile stuff was called, in which he in- 



TKIP ACBOSS THE SYBIAN DESEBT 55 

dulged too often, in violation of the interdiction which 
every true Musselman is bound to observe. The col- 
onel, after previously providing me with a complete 
cavalry lieutenant's outfit, had me attached to a troop 
of cavalry, who were bound for Damascus. 

During the two weeks which it took to traverse 
the distance between Aleppo and Damascus, I learned 
more of Oriental life than I ever knew before. In 
order to avoid unpleasant remarks, I had to conform 
myself to all the social and religious customs of my 
Mohammedan escorts. These customs, although some 
of them border almost on the ridiculous, are far from 
being onerous. I shall here briefly describe our doings 
of the day. 

Long before the sun rose the reveille was sounded 
and the cavalcade was made ready to march. During 
the march we had no camels to carry our baggage and 
provisions, but pack horses, which in the desert are 
poor substitutes for the ships of the desert. At sun- 
rise we halted at some well or cisterrv and unpacked 
our provisions. We carried no tents, but bivouacked 
in the open, and under the shade of trees, if possible. 
After making our ablutions, we offered our prayers by 
prostrating ourselves with bended knees on a little 
rug, which ever}' soldier carries with him for that 
purpose. The prayer consists of facing towards Mecca 
in the east, touching the ground five times with our 
lips, and repeating seven times the bismillah, which is 
something similar to our Lord's prayer. After prayer, 
breakfast was prepared, consisting of bread of the 
pancake shape, onions, dates, and half a^ dozen minia- 
ture cups of coffee. The balance of the day was spent 



56 EEMINISCENCES 

in playing checkers or backgammon, and in sleep. 
Late in the afternoon the cook began the preparation 
of the main meal of the day. If, perchance, we bivou- 
acked near a hamlet, a sheep was bought and killed. 
The whole carcass was then either put into a large 
caldron which we carried along with us in our bag- 
gage, and boiled with the rice which was cooking, or 
else it was broiled on a large spit before a big roaring 
fire made of dried sheep dung, and afterward pulled 
to pieces and put into the caldron that contained the 
pilav (rice). The cooked meal was now divided and 
placed into big round wooden troughs, so that about 
ten to twelve could sit around each trough. I do not 
remember whether we were provided with little two 
feet high tables or not, but all Turkish meals are placed 
on these little stands if they can be had ; if not, then 
the food is placed on a rug spread on the ground. Of 
course another ablution and prayer took place before 
the meal. 

A true Mohammedan washes and prays five times 
during every twenty-four hours. The ablutions with 
the well-to-do and the rich Mohammedan are very 
ceremonious afifairs. While one attendant pours water 
from a silver ewer on the arms and hands, into a silver 
basin which is held by another, a third one holds a 
Turkish towel ready for use. That the ablutions have 
become mainly a ceremony established by long custom, 
is evidenced by the fact that whenever the true be- 
liever can find no water, as is often the case in the 
desert, he uses sand wherewith to go through the cere- 
mony of washing his arms, hands and feet. 

Whenever the time for prayer comes, and if in a 



TEIP ACROSS THE SYEIAN DESERT 57 

city or town, when he hears the Immara (priest) call 
from the top of a minaret : "Pray, pray. The hour is 
running fast and the judgment draws near," no matter 
where he may find himself at the time, he prostrates 
himself five times and murmurs his prayers. The de- 
vout Musselman constantly counts his beads, like the 
devout Catholic. But, as the Frenchman says : "Reve- 
nons a nos moutons." 

Invariably before every dinner, which means the 
evening meal, we had chorba, a kind of a soup in 
which, besides rice, various kinds of vegetables, such 
as gumbo, onions and such like were mixed. After 
chorba, which was partaken from a common large 
bowl with wooden spoons, the pilav and the meat were 
put before us. There were no knives and forks, but 
each one put the three first fingers of his right hand 
into the dish and fished out at random whatever came 
in his way. Now and then a choice morsel of meat 
was pushed between the writer's teeth by a neighbor, 
who in this odd manner wished to show his good will 
toward him. 

Although the distance between Aleppo and Damas- 
cus is not more than 250 miles, it took us fourteen days 
to traverse it. The country at that time was barren of 
all signs of life, either vegetable or animal, except 
where the wells or cisterns containing water had 
formed an oasis with a few clumps of trees, and occa- 
sionally a hamlet, consisting of a few mud houses, was 
visible. Some of these hamlets were the abodes of 
Bedouin chiefs, who had their konaks (palaces) and 
harems there. These chiefs were violently inimical to 



58 EEMINISCENCES 

the Turkish government, and in some instances refused 
us permission to establish our camp around these wells. 

ARRIVAL AT DAMASCUS 

We at last reached on the fourteenth day of our 
tedious journey, just after sunrise, the crescent of a 
hill, whence a most beautiful panorama of Damascus 
in the distance greeted our eyes. No wonder that the 
Prophet Mohammed, on beholding Sham (Damascus) 
from this hill, refused to enter it, saying, as the Arab 
legends have it : "I prefer to enter paradise in heaven, 
therefore I will not enter into this earthly paradise." 

After Mecca and Medina, Damascus or Sham (Holy 
city), as the Osmanli designate it, is the most fre- 
quented place of Mohammedan pilgrimage in the Turk- 
ish empire. There are numerous shrines all over the 
city where the devout Musselmen prostrate themselves 
invoking the aid of some biblical patriarch or Moham- 
medan saint. 

On arriving at Damascus we went straight to the 
barracks, where thousands of troops of all branches of 
the service were quartered. It was not long before 
some Hungarian exiles, who had entered the Turkish 
military service, called on me. The news that one of 
Murad Pasha's followers had arrived from Aleppo had 
reached them the very same day of our arrival. The 
accounts given me by my compatriot callers of their 
experiences threw a cold blanket over my enthusiastic 
expectations. 

After paying my respects to the colonel command- 
ing at the barracks I accompanied him to the konak of 
the vali (the palace of the governor general). After 



AEEIVAL AT DAMASCUS 59 

entering the selamlik (reception room) we were asked 
to take a seat on one of the many ottomans placed 
around the room. While waiting for the appearance 
of the Pasha, who by the way was a brother-in-law of 
Sultan Abdul Med j id, we were regaled with cofifee 
served in tiny china cups with silver holders, and long 
stemmed cherry wood tshibouks, whose mouthpieces 
were of the purest amber, and a ring composed of bril- 
liants surrounded the part that joined the stem to the 
mouthpiece. 

The luxurious surroundings which I saw here in the 
governor general's palace, I was afterwards told, could 
give me but a faint idea of the magnificence of the 
Sultan's numerous seraglios. 

The retinue, including tschibouk bearers, caffedjiras 
who prepared the cofifee, and other menial servants 
who were waiting on this Pasha, must have been at 
least thirty in number, while those of the Sultan under 
the old regime exceeded one hundred. While some 
members of this Pasha's retinue were entered into the 
Turkish military service as milazima (lieutenants), jus 
pashas (captains), and bimbashis (majors), and draw- 
ing their monthly stipends from the imperial treasury, 
the Sultan's retinue contained many Pashas who drew 
their stipend from the same source. For instance, the 
black chief Eunuch of the Sultan's harem, who is called 
Kizlar Agha, has the pay and rank of a Pasha of three 
tughs (horse tails), and so has the bostanji (chief 
gardener) of the many palaces. Then there is the 
Pasha whose duty is to taste all the food prepared for 
the Sultan, and many others too numerous to mention. 

After a short interview with the governor general 



60 KEMINISCENCES 

he directed the commandant of the barracks to take 
care of me at the barracks, intimating to him privately, 
as I afterwards learned, that he would have me accom- 
pany him on the hegira which he was soon to lead to 
the Hedjaz, the Holy Land of Mecca and Medina, and 
where I would be enabled to drink the celebrated Zam 
Zam water at its original source, instead of getting an 
occasional taste given to me by a returned Hadji, which 
is anything but pleasant to either palate or nostrils. 

While waiting for the pleasure of my new master 
I spent the days and weeks and months in exploring 
Damascus and getting acquainted with many of its 
inhabitants, 

CITY OF DAMASCUS 

The city of Damascus lies about 60 miles south- 
east of Beyrout, which is its port on the Mediterranean 
sea. The two rivers, Barada and Abana, which in the 
bible are referred to as Abana and Pharphar, furnish 
the water to the miles and miles of orchards and gar- 
dens that surround the city. Numerous canals, lead- 
ing from these rivers to different parts of the city, 
furnish water — the great desideratum of Oriental life — 
to the numberless public as well as private fountains, 
and to the orchards and gardens. The manner in which 
the water is elevated into these canals is quite primitive 
and must antedate the Christian era. A dam of solid 
masonry is extended out from the shore, so as to 
accumulate the water to three or four feet deep, as 
the case may be. Below the dam a huge wheel, with 
very poorly constructed buckets, that elevate and 
empty the water into the canals, is placed. Similar 



CITY OF DAMASCUS gl 

wheels by the hundreds may be seen on the Euphrates 
between Adana and Basra on the Persian gulf. 

I spent a good deal of my leisure time sitting at 
the front of some coflfee houses on the broad street re- 
ferred to in the bible as the Straight street. I also 
visited the spot called the House of Judas, where Saul 
was converted and his sight restored by Annanias. 

But nevertheless life in the barracks became bur- 
densome. I yearned after a more active life. I at- 
tended all the drills and the evening parades of the 
troops, where the words "Padisha choke yashar" (long 
life to the Sultan) were repeated in stentorian tones 
day after day by thousands of soldiers at the close of 
the parade and before breaking ranks. The Turkish 
women, who by the hundreds were sitting around in 
the gardens, eating pistachios and who coquettishly 
withdrew just enough of their veil (yashmak) to expose 
their eyes, the brows of which were blackened by 
surmer, a kind of black dye, and their hair dyed with 
henna, had no attraction for me. I was longing for 
freedom. I pictured to myself, in case I should enter 
the Turkish service, my early ambition to study the 
world in its higher aspect as entirely frustrated. Then 
I received letters from Aleppo informing me that Kos- 
suth and his fellow exiles were about to leave Kutaiah 
and embark on the U. S. war steamer Mississippi for 
the United States, and that my friend and benefactor, 
General Kmetty, and all the Hungarian officers who 
were with him at Aleppo, had applied to be released. 
I was seized with an irresistible desire to leave Turkey 
and go back to civilization. I accordingly craved an 
interview with the governor general, which after a few 



62 REMINISCENCES 

days* waiting was granted to me. I told his excellency 
the truth about my being homesick, which I had not 
experienced until now, when I saw that all my com- 
patriots had left Turkey and gone to the jeni duenja, 
the new world, as the Turks call the United States. 
The Pasha was surprisingly affable; told me to keep 
the uniform which he had had expressly made for me, 
besides ordering his purser to pay to me the month's 
salary to be due in a few days, and instructed his aide 
to furnish me with transportation back to Aleppo, 
whence I came, and where he was in duty bound to 
send me back. He evidently had instructions from 
Constantinople not to place any impediments in the 
way of any Hungarian refugees who wished to quit 
the Turkish empire. 

Arrived at Aleppo. I found to my greatest regret 
that all the Hungarian refugees, with the exception of 
General Kmetty, Captain Tolt and his wife, and Baron 
Stein, had already left on their way to the United 
States. General Kmetty, who in 1857 and 1858 dis- 
tinguished himself by the brave defense of Kars 
against the Russians, and who afterwards was relieved 
by the English general Sir Fenwick Williams, was not 
quite ready to go. He kindly introduced me to the 
English consul-general, Mr. Verny, who furnished me 
with a passport designating me as a protege of her 
majesty, the Queen of Great Britain. I had also se- 
cured a Turkish passport with the toogra (the Sultan's 
signature) which is on all official documents. 

Having secured these necessary papers and laid 
into my haversack a fair supply of provisions, I bid 
good bye to Aleppo, where I had spent nigh two years 



CITY or DAMASCUS 63 

as the Sultan's guest, and where I came into posses- 
sion of the celebrated "Button of Halep." Every in- 
habitant of the Aleppo vilayet and every visitor to the 
city and its surroundings, even if his stop be of a few 
hours only, is liable to be attacked by an eruption of 
the skin, with some fever attending it, that leaves a 




TOOGRA (SIGNATURE OF THE PADISHA). 

mark somewhat like a smallpox mark. The attack is 
more severe on the natives, who invariably have their 
faces pockmarked, so that some of the handsomest 
women become thus disfigured. 

After a weary horseback ride, passing through La- 
takia, where the famous Turkish tobacco comes from, 
we reached Tripoli, on the Mediterranean. Captain 
Tolt, who formerly was captain in my battalion (the 
55th,) with his charming wife, were the only two Hun- 
garians of our party. It was our intention to take an 
Arab sloop for Beyrout, where we hoped to engage 
passage for London or Liverpool, England. We rested 
a couple of days at Tripoli, when we learned from our 
landlord, who was a Christian, that a sloop would sail 



84 EEMINISCENCES 

on the same evening for Beyrout. We gladly engaged 
passage in this Arab yacht, with but two sails and 
without a single cabin on deck or anywhere else. Dur- 
ing the first few hours our boat went on swimmingly, 
but when the wind changed and became contrary to 
our course, it became unmanageable and we were 
tossed to and fro all night by the big waves that 
washed the deck and drenched us to the skin. The 
captain of the boat, with a crew of two Arabs, spent 
most of the time praying to Allah to save us from 
being drowned. When finally the first glimpse of the 
coming day appeared, we beheld in the distance a city 
we took for Beyrout. But, alas, we were soon dis- 
illusioned on the captain telling us that the town we 
saw was Tripoli, the place we had started from the 
night before, and that we were some ten miles the 
other side from our starting place. It was noon before 
we were landed again. We then decided to take the 
land road to Beyrout. After much wrangling and par- 
leying, the captain of the sloop returned most of the 
fare we had paid him. 

After a tedious journey of several days on the rocky 
road of the anti Lebanon, we finally reached our desti- 
nation, where we were to take passage either to Eng- 
land or the United States. My friend. Captain Tolt, 
and his wife, having more money than I had, parted 
company with me and took passage direct for Boston, 
where in after years the captain kept a very fashion- 
able riding school. I waited for a steamer to take me 
to Alexandria, Egypt, where I would stand a better 
chance of securing passage for either England or 
America, and at a cheaper rate. 



PART III. 

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT 

As far as my recollection reaches, back to the time 
when poring over the history of Egypt, the Pharaohs 
of the bible, the Ptolemies, and the celebrated Cleo- 
patra and her intrigues with Mark Anthony, Alexan- 
dria next to Jerusalem was the one city which I desired 
most to see. My desire, through the inscrutable work- 
ings of divine principle, had now become a reality, but 
however strong was my desire to spend sufficient time 
in this most interesting city, so replete with archeolog- 
ical subjects, I could not do so. My exchequer con- 
taining only a small portion of the meager milazin 
(lieutenant) salary which I received as the guest of 
Sultan Abdul Medjid, I could but hurriedly visit some 
of the many interesting places in the city and its sur- 
roundings. What interested me most was the monu- 
ment called "Pompey's Pillar." Next in interest to 
me were the two obelisks called "Cleopatra's Needles," 
one standing upright, while its companion was half 
buried in the sand that has been covering it these 
many centuries. Since my seeing it there, it has been 
presented to the city of New York by the father of 
the present Khedive, and may be seen now in Central 
Park, New York. 

The population of Alexandria is now said to be 
65 



66 KEMINISCENCES 

about 300,000. Sixty years ago, when the writer was 
there, there could not have been more than 50,000. 
Modern civilization had not as yet made its inroads on 
Oriental customs and its people. At that time there 
was not a single rail in Egypt. In fact, traveling by 
wheels of any kind was unknown. The only carriage 
in the whole country was the one owned by the then 
Khedive, Ismael Pasha. There was no regular mail 
deliveries in the Turkish Empire. Letters were sent 
and received irregularly, either by steamer or by pony 
express, which was maintained by the Government. 
While a resident at Aleppo and Damascus, the writer 
thought himself lucky if he could send a letter to 
Hungary and receive a reply within two or three 
months. But why dwell on the past? Progress has 
been and still is the battle cry of civilization, and 
Alexandria's progress within the last sixty years to 
its commercial importance is no greater marvel than 
that of thousands of other cities all over the globe. 

There is no country in the world whose history is 
of more interest to the student of the world's history 
than Egypt. Aside from the Bible accounts which we 
have of Egypt, and the Pharaohs, who for centuries 
kept the children of Israel in bondage, it has produced 
a race of men which find no parallel in all history. I 
refer to the Mameluks, who from a state of abject 
slavery became the rulers of Egypt and who defeated 
the crusaders under Saint Louis and of whom after 
the battle of the Pyramids, the great Napoleon said 
that "they were the bravest body of cavalry he had 
ever encountered." 

After a few days' sight seeing, I embarked on an 



AKEIVAL IN ENGLAND 67 

English tramp freight steamer bound for Bristol, Eng- 
land, where, after landing at Tangiers (Morocco) and 
Gibraltar, we arrived after a nearly two weeks' jour- 
ney. 

ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND 

Never, as long as my memory may last, shall I 
forget the reception accorded to me by one of Albion's 
citizen families, named Jeffries, at Bristol. The third 
mate of the steamer that brought me to Bristol was 
a son of this Mr. Jeffries. He was a young man of 
generous impulses, and he insisted that I should make 
his home my home while in that city. The few days 
which I spent with this family acted on my pessi- 
mistic reflections on life in general as the Balm of 
Gilead, for I was accorded all the love a son could ex- 
pect to receive from his doting family. 

LONDON 

Arrived in this metropolis of the world, a feeling 
of despair took possession of me. I thought what a 
gigantic maelstrom is this city, composed of hundreds 
of miles of streets, with its millions of inhabitants, to 
be tossed into and engulfed. Shall I ever succeed in 
asserting my own individuality among the millions 
to whom I am entirely unknown? The generosity of 
the British Government, however, soon dispelled all 
my fears, for on calling on my countryman. Count 
Esterhazy, whose address was given me by General 
Kmetty in Aleppo, he directed me to a hotel on Tra- 
falgar Square, where many of my exiled countrymen 
found lodgings. Lord Palmerston and Lord John Rus- 



as BEMINISCENCES 

sell were then at the helm of the British Government, 
and their kind treatment of the Hungarian refugees 
who found hospitable shelter on Albion's soil, will 
forever produce a feeling of intense gratitude within 
my breast towards those two great leaders, as well 
as to the British nation. 

After a five weeks' sojourn in London, and after 
all hopes had been abandoned of our immediate return 
to Hungary as invaders, some forty of us, all Hun- 
garian exiles, embarked at London on the American 
clipper "Cornelius Grinnell," commanded by Captain 
Fletcher. After a four weeks' sail, we arrived at New 
York on the 1st of May, 1852. The city, although not 
of the magnitude of London, produced a deep im- 
pression on me, as it was the first Republican soil my 
feet had ever touched. It was the fulfillment of all 
my youthful dreams. My great leader, Louis Kossuth, 
had been in the city for some weeks, and with his in- 
flaming oratory had aroused the greatest enthusiasm. 
Excitement was also increased during those days by 
the concerts given by the celebrated Jenny Lind at 
Castle Garden, the only hall available then in New 
York. 

In my sketch of Louis Kossuth I mentioned my 
having met him at the Irwing House, and of the kind 
treatment I received at his hands. I will merely state 
that after the cartridge factory or Moringville, N. Y., 
was definitely closed, I returned to New York. In 
starting that factory, Kossuth's main object was to 
give employment to his fellow exiles, who were thrown 
among strangers without any means of support and 
without understanding the language of the country. 



HAETFOED, CONN. 69 

On my return from Moringville to New York, I 
immediately decided to leave the city for the interior, 
where, isolated from the surrounding foreign elements, 
I might more easily learn the English language, 

HARTFORD, CONN. WORK IN A CLOCK FACTORY. 

My first abiding place in the interior was Hartford, 
Conn., which I reached by steamer during the summer 
of 1852. After a short stay in Hartford I went to 
Bristol, Conn., where I secured employment in the clock 
factory of Terry, Downs and Burrell. Having secured 
an abiding place in the family of the village custom 
miller, I started in to acquire English. As I was en- 
gaged during the daytime in the factory, I studied dur- 
ing the night by candle light, sitting up as late as eleven 
and twelve o'clock. I was particularly fortunate in 
having found work in this clock factory, for Mrs. 
Downs, the wife of one of the members of the firm, 
being a highly cultivated woman, after having learned 
my history and my object in securing work in a factory, 
invited me to her house, where I was, during my whole 
stay in Bristol, a welcome guest. She took great pains 
in correcting my pronunciation and grammatical con- 
struction in the English language. 

While a resident of Bristol I visited New Britain, 
where I became acquainted with the principal of the 
Normal School, Prof. Philbrick, through whose kind 
efforts I secured a class composed of young ladies, 
pupils of the school, whom I taught French. The in- 
congruity of a factory hand teaching French in a Nor- 
mal School soon became apparent to me, so I decided 
to give up my factory work and change my domicile 



70 REMINISCENCES 

from Bristol to Hartford, where the wider sphere 
would secure me a larger field in which to pursue the 
vocation I determined to follow, namely, that of a 
teacher of French and German. 

Of my life in Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, 
Mass., I can enumerate only a few of the families 
where I always was a welcome guest, and where I 
was invited to attend many social functions. Mr. 
Henry Barnard, at the time Superintendent of Public 
Instruction in Connecticut, treated me as if I had been 
his son. Years after I had been a resident of Chicago, 
and when he had been appointed National Commis- 
sioner of Education, the good man hunted me up and 
expressed his gratification at seeing me prosperous in 
business. Besides Mr. Barnard, I counted among 
my friends Mrs. Ross and her charming young daugh- 
ter, the Bulkleys, the Cheneys (especially Ralph 
Cheney). 

In Springfield, Mass., I received nothing but kind- 
ness at the hands of the Merriam Bros., publishers of 
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. I also enjoyed the 
distinguished friendship of Rev, Samuel W. Long- 
fellow, who when I took leave of him, presented me 
with a manuscript of the "Psalm of Life," signed by 
his brother, Henry W. Longfellow; of the Rev, Mr, 
Tiffany, who was one of my pupils; the Rev. Mr. 
Humphrey, and many other worthy people of both 
cities, whose kind words and deeds will never be ef- 
faced from the memory of the Hungarian exile. 

One of my most interesting reminiscences of Hart- 
ford is my acquaintance with the Rev. W. F. Wil- 
liams, Missionary to Mossul Assyria, who believed 



GOING WEST 71 

himself to be the lost Dauphin of France, having been 
spirited away from the Temple where he was incar- 
cerated, and taken to the United States, where he was 
entrusted to the care of an Indian chief. However 
this might have been, I know that he was honest in 
his belief. 

GOING WEST 

Toward the spring of 1855, I realized that teaching 
languages and being lionized, while very gratifying to 
the senses, would not secure for me permanent means 
of livelihood that I could depend on in case of illness 
or any other unforeseen accident. I concluded to go 
West, and my first intended destination was St. Louis, 
then a sturdily growing city of the Middle West. I 
took the Michigan Central road to Chicago, the only 
through route between New York, Boston and the 
West. After a day of sightseeing at Niagara Falls, 
which filled me with awe and wonder, I stopped at 
Detroit, where I delivered a letter of introduction to 
Mr. Van Dyke, a prominent citizen of that city, the 
walls of whose residence were literally covered with 
gems of paintings by the celebrated Dutch artist. Van 
Dyke. He, however, disclaimed any relationship to 
that distinguished painter. 

The trip from Detroit to Chicago was of much 
longer duration in 1855 than it is now. If my memory 
serves me right, I left Detroit in the forenoon and 
reached Chicago the following morning. As Mr. Pull- 
man in those days was still unheard of, the three nights 
I spent on my trip from Springfield, Mass., to Chicago 
were not such as to make a lasting favorable impres- 



72 EEMINISCENCES 

sion on me. I was glad to behold Chicago, in the same 
sense as a seasick person rejoices when he espies terra 
firma. 

ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO 

Arrived in Chicago in the evening, I took lodgings 
in the Sherman House, situated on the same site on 
which the present palatial 20-story hotel building 
stands, on the corner of Randolph and Clark streets. 
In 1855 the Sherman House was the next best to the 
Tremont House. It was an ordinary red-painted frame 
building, and like all hotels in those days, was kept 
on the American plan. 

After a good night's rest, the following morning I 
wound my way to Mrs. Haight's boarding house, to 
deliver a letter given me by the Rev. Dr. Tififany to 
his friend, Dr. Charles Gilman Smith, a fellow gradu- 
ate of Harvard, who took his day board at Mrs. 
Haight's, while he lodged in a room connected with 
his office. As St. Louis was my ultimate destination, 
I did not intend to prolong my stay in Chicago more 
than a couple of days, but that which followed proved 
the truth of the Scotch poet's saying: "The best laid 
schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley." 

On delivering my letter of introduction to Dr. 
Smith, he received me with great warmth, coming as 
I did recommended by his friend, the Rev, Dr. Tiffany, 
who had been my pupil in German. He at once began 
to persuade me not to go any further West, but to 
make Chicago my home. He introduced me to a 
gentleman by the name of Mr. Hitt, who is now a 
resident of Washington Heights. This Mr. Hitt was 



AEEIVAL IN CHICAGO 73 

paying teller in the bank of R. K. Swift, a very popu- 
lar and eccentric gentleman. Mr. Hitt offered to take 
me to the office of a Mr. Jonathan Young Scammon, 
who besides being at the head of the law firm of Scam- 
mon & McCagg, was also president of the Marine Bank, 
the largest bank corporation then West of New York. 
Dr. Smith described Mr. Scammon as a gentleman 
very much interested in Hungarian exiles, and that 
he had a tutor for his son Charles, by the name of 
Professor Breck, a Hungarian exile. After having 
been introduced to Mr. Scammon in his law office, 
corner of LaSalle and Lake streets, and on Mr. Hitt 
informing him of the object of his errand, Mr. Scam- 
mon immediately offered me a position either in his law 
office or in the Marine Bank. After a few moment's re- 
flection I decided to accept a position in his law office. 
Thus twenty-four hours had hardly expired before I 
had secured a position, the first business position I 
had ever held. 

I was particularly fortunate in securing a position so 
soon after my arrival in Chicago, for during that spring 
of 1855 this city was not the most desirable place for 
a naturalized citizen to come to, it was under the do- 
minion of the Knownothing party, which attempted 
to deny all rights and privileges to the foreign born 
citizens which the native born enjoyed ; Levi D. Boone, 
an avowed Knownothing, and who subsequently, as 
alleged, was at heart a sympathizer with the secession- 
ists of the south, was the Mayor just elected. This 
was also the spring of the great beer riots. 

On reaching Chicago, I was surprised to find here 
Captain Martin Koszta, who during the Hungarian 



74 REMINISCENCES 

war of liberation commanded a company in the Bat- 
talion in which I served. This Martin Koszta came 
near becoming the Casus Belli between the United 
States and the Austrian Empire, when gallant Captain 
Ingraham trained the guns of his warship on an Aus- 
trian ship which had Koszta on board as a political 
prisoner with the intention of carrying him back to 
Austria. This happened at Smyrna, Asia Minor, which 
place Koszta visited after having declared his intention 
while in New York of becoming a naturalized citizen 
of the United States. Captain Ingraham hearing of 
Koszta's seizure gave the Austrian skipper only a few 
hours in which to bring Koszta on board of the Ameri- 
can war vessel, or else stand the chances of being at- 
tacked and the prisoner rescued by force. It is needless 
to state that Koszta was delivered to Captain Ingraham 
before the expiration of the time designated. 

It was during the period of 1856 and 1857 that, 
although in a small way, I helped to lay the founda- 
tion of the present "Chicago Historical Society." 

It happened this way: The Rev. Mr. William 
Barry, a very accomplished gentleman and a retired 
Unitarian minister, with whom I became acquainted 
soon after my arrival in Chicago, sent his family 
east on a visit, came to take up his lodging in the 
same place where I boarded. There not being any va- 
cant room, Mr. Barry shared my room with me. It 
was during these pleasantly spent evening hours that 
Mr. Barry unfolded to me his plans of starting the 
Chicago Historical Society, in order to preserve the 
records of Chicago and the Northwestern territory. 
Thus one evening, while we were discussing the diffi- 



JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON 75 

culties that would have to be overcome in establishing 
such an institution, without a dollar in sight, he ap- 
proached my modest little bookshelf which hung sus- 
pended between two red cords against the wall of our 
room, and picking therefrom some books that appealed 
to him, he said : "My friend, are you willing to con- 
tribute these books to the Chicago Historical Society 
as a beginning?" I do not remember the reply I 
made, for more than a half century has passed since 
then, but I must have consented, for it was not long 
before Mr. Barry took these books and some others 
which he had received from other parties to the modest 
little room in the Ogden Building at the corner of 
Clark and Lake streets, where he formed the nucleus 
of the present prosperous "Chicago Historical So- 
ciety," of which for years he was the honored secretary 
and librarian. 

Before proceeding any further with my narrative I 
shall devote a few lines to my friend and benefactor, 

JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMiMON 

Mr. Scammon was a native of Maine. Originally 
he intended to be a farmer, but through an accident 
losing the middle fingers of his left hand, he gave up 
farming and devoted himself to the study of law. After 
graduating he came to Chicago in 1835, two years 
before Chicago became a corporate city. He took up 
his lodgings at the Sauganack Hotel, located on the 
southwest corner of Market and Lake streets, the 
hostelry which lodged many a pioneer builder of Chi- 
cago's greatness. 

Mr. Scammon during 1855, the year I first met him. 



76 BEMINISCENCES 

was at the head of one of the largest banking institu- 
tions West of New York. He attained a high position 
in banking circles through his connection, as attorney, 
with the State Bank of the State of Illinois. He was 
also mainly instrumental in framing the new banking 
laws of the State, which defined certain rules in bank- 
ing, and placed additional responsibilities upon cor- 
porate banking institutions. Scammon's Reports, col- 
lected by him while acting as official reporter for the 
Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, from 1839 to 
1845, are too well known by practicing lawyers to be 
told that the author was an adept in law. 

But aside from successes achieved in all his mate- 
rial undertakings, Mr. Scammon possessed a deep re- 
ligious temperament. He devoted much time and 
money in organizing the first Swedenborgian Church 
in the West. He had arrived at the zenith of a suc- 
cessful career, when, as it was natural for him to do, 
he resolved to take a well-earned rest by a trip to 
Europe. And right here it was that Mr. Scammon, 
with all his shrcAvdness as a business man and a law- 
yer, committed the fatal blunder that brought on his 
financial ruin. In the first place, the year 1857, when 
he decided upon his trip to Europe, was the dark- 
est year, financially and industrially, in the history of 
Chicago and the West. It was the culmination of the 
wild speculative spirit that raged for ten years pre- 
vious to it. The wild-cat money that had been pour- 
ing in from Georgia and Tennessee, flooding the en- 
tire West, became worthless ; every commodity of life 
was declining, with no legitimate money to carry on 
the business of the country. At such a critical and 



JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON 77 

panicky time, Mr. Scammon should have stood by his 
many important undertakings, and not entrusted them 
to the care of a young man by the name of B. F. Car- 
ver, as cashier of the Marine Bank, whose only recom- 
mendation as to fitness for his position had been that 
he was the son of a rich father, Benjamin Carver of 
Herkimer County, N. Y., who was a large stockholder 
in the bank. Here I must digress and resume my con- 
nection with my Mr, Scammon from the time I entered 
his law office in the spring of 1855. After having been 
employed for a few weeks in the law office of Scam- 
mon & McCagg, I became convinced that it would 
take me from four to five years to fit myself for the 
bar, during which time I would earn but a scanty liv- 
ing. My English, although sufficient for ordinary con- 
versational purposes, was not what I thought a per- 
son studying law should possess and be master of. So 
during one of my visits to Mr. Scammon's house on 
Congress street, I broached the subject to him, and he 
readily fell in with my idea and offered me a position 
in the Marine Bank, which I gladly accepted, as it 
secured me at once a comfortable salary. I then 
worked faithfully in the bank for two years, occupying 
various positions, while my visits to Mr. Scammon's 
residence continued twice a week, to instruct his two 
daughters in French, and which is one of my pleasant* 
est recollections. 

Some time after Mr. Scammon's departure, I no- 
ticed that some of the bank employes paid frequent 
midnight visits to the bank, opened the vaults and 
took out the bank books, over which they spent hours 
in figuring and making erasures. After one of these 



78 EEMINISCENCES 

midnight visits, I arose from my sofa bed (my room 
opening into the bank) and opened the vault, took 
out the general ledger and cash book, and to my sur- 
prise I found erasures and alterations of figures that 
confirmed my suspicions that something was wrong. 
Thinking over the matter for several days, I finally 
decided to express my suspicions to the Rev. Mr. J. R. 
Hibbard of the Swedenborgian Church, asking him to 
communicate these suspicions to Mr. Scammon, who 
was at that time in Switzerland. My faithfulness, how- 
ever, was illy rewarded. Mr. Scammon wrote to his 
brother, F. Scammon, who was one of the directors of 
the bank, all about what Mr. Hibbard had written him, 
and who in turn informed Mr. B. F. Carver of the facts, 
with the result that this latter gentleman showed his 
feelings of anger towards me in every way possible, 
and to such an extent that I had to resign my position, 
which I had held for over five years. But the hardest 
blow to me was not the loss of my position, but the 
message which Mr. Scammon had sent me through 
Mr. Hibbard, which was: "Tell Mr. Kune to mind 
his own business." Facts which eventually came to 
light, not very long after I left the employ of the bank, 
brought to me the satisfaction of having done what 
every honest employe should have done, — that of try- 
ing to save his principal from loss which he sees he 
is being daily subjected to. On Mr. Scammon's re- 
turn, he found that the mismanagement of the bank 
had caused it a loss of several hundred thousand dol- 
lars, and it had to close its doors not long afterwards. 
Months after, when Mr. Scammon had lost all his ac- 
cumulated wealth, he frankly acknowledged to me that 



WM. B. OGDEN 79 

had he heeded my warnings sent through Mr. Hibbard, 
he might have averted some, if not all, of the losses 
caused by the dishonesty of some of his employes. 
As an earnest demonstration of his kind feelings for 
me, he then and there wrote the following letter of 
recommendation : 

"Marine Bank of Chicago, 
Oct. 29, 1860. 
Mr. Julian Kune has been in the employment of 
this institution for several years. He is a gentleman 
of good character and undoubted honesty and unques- 
tioned fidelity. He discharged his duties in this bank 
satisfactorily. 

(Signed) J. Young Scammon, 

President." 

WM. B. OGDEN 

My acquaintance with Mr. Ogden began in 1859. 
He was then undoubtedly the richest man West of 
New York, and how I, a young exile earning my living 
by holding a clerkship in a bank, should have gained 
the favor of this pioneer, Chicago's first Mayor, is only 
explainable by the fact that Mr. Ogden was a broad- 
minded and liberal man. He was a reader and a 
student of the many political events occurring in those 
days, and on my having been introduced to him as a 
Hungarian exile, by his friend, Mr. Scammon, he took 
quite an interest in what I had to say about' the Hun- 
garian struggle for freedom in 1848. And, having had 
frequent social chats with him, I gradually drifted into 
State politics, and through his influence and that of 
Mr. Scammon, both of whom were members of the 



80 REMINISCENCES 

Legislature, I was appointed assistant enrolling and 
engrossing clerk of the Senate in 1860. Mr. Ogden's 
biography has often been dwelt upon ; therefore I will 
merely state that when I came to Chicago in 1855 
he had been a resident of the city about twenty years, 
having come from Walton, Delaware County, N. Y., 
to take care of some land, about 182 acres, which his 
father had owned. He was Chicago's first Mayor in 
1837, while another gentleman of high character, and 
who subsequently befriended me, I. N. Arnold, was 
city clerk, and N. B. Judd city attorney. Mr. Ogden 
was justly called the "Railway King of the West." 
He was the first president of the Union Pacific R. R., 
and for a long time president of the Chicago and 
North Western R. R. from its inception, as it grew 
from the old Chicago & Galena Union R. R. His repu- 
tation as a railroad builder and successful representa- 
tive American was by no means limited to his native 
country — it was international, as may be inferred from 
what Guizot, the French historian and statesman, said 
of him while gazing upon his portrait, painted by the 
eminent Chicago artist, Healy. He said: "That is 
the representative American, who is a benefactor of his 
country, especially the mighty West; he built Chi- 
cago." If he did not literally build the Chicago of 
today, he certainly laid its foundation well, by honest 
examples in both private and public life. He had the 
honor of laying also the foundation of the vast railroad 
system of the West, by building the first locomotive 
that was sent out West from Chicago in April, 1849, 
His probity and honesty in all his dealings were pro- 
verbial. When he was hard pressed for ready money 



MY POLITICAL LIFE 81 

during the pank- of 1857, a friend of his, a Scotch 
nobleman, sent him an offer of 100,000 pounds sterling, 
saying: "If you get through, I know you will return 
it. If you don't, Jenny and I will never miss it." 

It is but rarely that a great man like Wm. B. Og- 
den was, writes his own epigramatic epitaph so uncon- 
sciously as were the words delivered to a lady friend, 
who was grieving over the future career of her son : 
"I was born close to a saw-mill, was early left an 
orphan, christened in a mill pond, graduated at a log 
school house, and at 14 I fancied I could do anything 
I turned my hand to ; that nothing was impossible. 
And ever since, madam, I have been trying to prove it, 
and with some success." 

iMY POLITICAL LIFE 

Here my readers will pardon a slight digression 
in order to give a brief narrative of the events that 
led me into politics. Early in the 60s I was induced to 
join the Cameron and Lincoln Club, organized by a 
certain Dr. Leib, Fernando Jones, Dr. Blake, and sev- 
eral other ardent young Republicans. At these club 
meetings some fine speaking could be heard, not only 
by adherents to the main purpose of the Club's organ- 
ization, but also by others, who favored other candi- 
dates to become the party's leaders during the hottest 
of all political campaigns. Why and how Mr. Cameron 
came to be at the head of the ticket was never revealed 
to me. That Abraham Lincoln should be on the ticket 
was from the first patent to me. I heard him speak, 
and read all of his debating speeches with Stephen A. 
Douglas during 1858, and they excited my admiration 



82 REMINISCENCES 

and love for the man who was brave enough to quote 
to the whole nation the Biblical words : "A house di- 
vided against itself cannot stand. — This Nation cannot 
exist half slave and half free." Without acquainting 
any of my fellow club members, with the exception of 
one or two, I started for Washington, D. C, in Janu- 
ary, 1860. I had letters of introduction to Mr. Simon 
Cameron, U. S. Senator from Pennsylvania. I attended 
several sessions of Congress ; became acquainted with 
several prominent politicians from all parts of the 
country; attended a public reception at the White 
House, and shook hands with the President, James 
Buchanan. But for all that, I left Washington a sad- 
der and wiser man. Although but a tyro in the art 
of politics, I saw a portentious storm brewing which 
was to shake the nation to its very inmost core, and 
test its stability. I at once was reminded of what my 
great countryman, Louis Kossuth, had said on one oc- 
casion, about the instability of a nation that is gov^ 
erned from two standpoints, the one constitutional and 
representative, and the other absolute and autocratic. 
Centuries ago the great Teacher laid down the ualter- 
able decree of God, when he said (Matth. 12:25), "Ev- 
ery Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." I 
saw that the "irrepressible conflict," as Wm. H. Sew- 
ard called it, was close upon us. Very soon after my 
return home I found that the Republicans of the city 
were divided as to the choice of presidential candi- 
dates. The club to which I belonged was as strongly 
in favor of Simon Cameron as ever. Those in favor 
of Lincoln, like N. B. Judd, Jno. L. Scripps, Joseph 
Medill, and a few others, were lying low and undemon- 



THE DECATUE CONVENTION 83 

strative, while I might say that more than half of the 
Republican voters of the West favored Wm. H. Sew- 
ard for the standard bearer during the approaching 
conflict. I call it designedly "conflict," for it was to be 
a conflict between the votaries of freedom and of 
slavery. 

THE DECATUR CONVENTION. 

Not long after my return from Washington, the 
State Convention to nominate delegates to the National 
Convention and elect State officers, was held at De- 
catur, 111., May 9th and 10th, 1860. I attended that 
convention, having been elected an alternate. Very 
few, probably not more than half a dozen of the dele- 
gates who attended that convention, are still on earth. 
Most of the leaders in the convention were strong 
Seward men. The Chicago delegation was evenly di- 
vided between Cameron and Seward, until the 10th 
of May, when an article appeared in the Chicago Press 
and Tribune which caused a stampede from both the 
Seward and Cameron men to Lincoln. To clinch that 
stampede, came the episode of John Hanks suddenly 
appearing in the midst of the delegates carrying on 
his shoulders two fence rails with the inscription 
tacked on to them : "Two rails made by Abraham 
Lincoln and John Hanks in the Sangamon bottom in 
the year 1838." This startling episode caused pande- 
momium to break loose, and there was a unanimous 
roar of "Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Splitter, for Presi- 
dent," and the Decatur Convention immortalized itself 
by putting forward Abraham Lincoln as the Illinois 
candidate for the presidency. 



184 REMINISCENCES 

If the nomination of Mr. Lincoln as a candidte for 
the presidency was mainly brought about by John 
L. Scripps, his election was equally due to a large ex- 
tent to the able generalship displayed by the Hon. 
N. B. Judd as chairman of the Republican National 
Committee. My acquaintance with Mr. Judd at the 
time of the National Convention was slight, but as I 
was partly instrumental in changing the Cameron and 
Lincoln Club bodily into the Lincoln and Hamlin Club, 
he saw fit to assign me to the stumping of Southern 
Illinois, Northern Indiana and part of Michigan. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860 

There have been many presidential campaigns since 
the foundation of this Government, but none equalled 
the first Lincoln campaign in excitement, sectional 
hatred and denunciatory speeches. There were four 
tickets in the field — Lincoln and Hamlin, Douglas and 
Johnson, Breckenridge and Joseph Lane and Bell and 
Everett. The main light in the North was between 
the first mentioned two tickets. Partisanship ran to its 
highest pitch, and no quarter was asked nor given 
by either party. The "irrepressible conflict" between 
the slave oligarchy and the free soil men, now the Re- 
publican party, was at hand. All freedom-loving men, 
native or naturalized, were called upon by the Repub- 
lican National Committee, with headquarters at Chi- 
cago, to go forth and battle for the preservation of the 
Union. My lot, as stated, fell to go into Indiana, 
where I addressed outdoor audiences both in English 
and German. The principal speakers at these outdoor 
meetings were Congressman, afterwards Generals, 



PBESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860 85 

Schenck; Don Piat, and H, S. Lane, candidate for 
Governor of Indiana. From Northern Indiana I was 
afterward directed to go into Egypt, or Southern Illi- 
nois, where Republicans were as scarce as hen's teeth. 
Arrived at Mound City, 111., a station a few miles 
North of Cairo, 111., I began to realize that advocating 
the election of Abraham Lincoln would be an extra 
hazardous thing, for in all that region within a radius 
of fifty miles, there was but one man, a certain Dr. 
Crain, who dared to avow himself a Republican. As 
there was no hall, I mounted the platform in front of 
the Illinois Central station shanty, and from there I 
spoke to about fifty persons, composed mostly of farm- 
ers of Southern Illinois, or Egypt. That was the 
first time a Republican undertook to explain the prin- 
ciples and aims of the Republican party in that darkest 
Egypt, the majority of whose inhabitants were fully 
in sympathy with the party that was for the extension 
of slavery. Notwithstanding my frequent and severe 
criticism of the late acts of the "Little Giant" (the 
endearing name which afterwards they applied to their 
candidate, Stephen A. Douglas) they treated me fairly 
well, although not because they were in any way cham- 
pions of free speech, but because Dr. Crain, under 
whose protection I was speaking, and whose guest I 
was at his farm. Villa Ridge, a few miles from Mound 
City, had great influence over that whole region, as 
there was not a family of which he had not saved 
members from sickness and death by his medical skill, 
and very often without monetary remuneration. So, 
after all, here was another proof of the divine origin 
of man, for no matter how depraved a human being 



'86 REMINISCENCES 

may be, there are occasions when that divine spark 
within his breast manifests itself. 

My second address was delivered at Cairo, 111., on 
the evening of October 4th, 1860, in the Courthouse of 
the town. The room was crowded to suffocation, for 
they all wanted to hear what that "Black Republican" 
had to say. This appellation applied to all Republi- 
cans in those days. Dr. Crain, my guardian angel, 
was at my side on the platform. 

In order that my readers may more readily under- 
stand the political situation existing then in that dark- 
est part of our State, I will reproduce part of the Chica- 
go Press and Tribune's correspondence dated : "Cairo, 
Oct. 5, 1860." It says: "Mr. Julian Kune, of your 
city, spoke last night at the Courthouse. As usual, a 
great many Democrats, with John Cochran, the mar- 
shal of the city, at their head, were present to dis- 
turb the meeting with their blackguardism and yellings 
for Douglas. This John Cochran is the same who at 
every Republican meeting wants to get up a fight, 
and who created a disturbance at the time Yates and 
Fuller spoke here. He attempted to interrupt Mr. 
Kune by all contemptible and dishonorable means, but 
failed in his Democratic trick, for Mr. Kune announced 
his determination to stand up for his constitutional 
right to speak and preach Republicanism wherever 
he chooses. Tonight Mr. Kune will speak at the club 
room in Mr. Cushing's building." 

INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

When I think of the few occasions I had to listen 
to the encouraging and inspiring words of Abraham 



INTERVIEW WITH ABRAHAM LINCOLN 87 

Lincoln, while paying my visits to him at Springfield, 
I more than ever think of him in the words of the 
Psalmist : "The law of his God is in his heart ; none 
of his steps shall slide." He certainly fulfilled all the 
deeds which these words had promised. 

I cannot forego the temptation to relate one inter- 
view I had with Mr. Lincoln at his office in the State 
House at Springfield. As there were no ushers or 
lackeys to announce me, or to carry my card, I simply 
knocked at the office door, and on receiving a hearty 
"Come in," I entered and found Mr. Lincoln romping 
with one of his boys. After some unimportant ex- 
change of words about various subjects, we touched 
the slavery question. At first I was very cautious in 
my remarks, for some of the Republican orators and 
campaign documents averred that Mr. Lincoln was 
far from being at heart for the abolition of negro slav- 
ery ; that if he was elected he would not interfere with 
the institution of slavery where it now existed ; that 
the fugitive slave law would be upheld and executed 
in every part of the Union. 

When I related to him my recent experiences in 
Southern Illinois, where I was prevented from speak- 
ing freely my sentiments regarding the extension of 
slavery beyond its present limits, and that as a natural- 
ized citizen I was one of the Hungarian exiles, who 
had fought for liberty under Louis Kossuth, he arose 
to the full height of his six feet four, and with great 
warmth expressed himself (as nearly as I can remem- 
ber the words) : "No man has the right to keep his 
fellowman in bondage, be he black or white ; and the 
time will come, and must come, when there will not 



88 BEMINISCENCES 

be a single slave within the borders of this country." 
This was enough to convince me that a truer senti- 
ment was never expressed by any votary of liberty, 
either here or abroad. I knew where Mr. Lincoln 
stood in the struggle, and I went forth with renewed 
vigor, and inspired by the great Commoner's word, 
to do my duty during that memorable strife. I, how- 
ever, did not lose sight of the fact that discretion in bat- 
tle is as necessary to insure success as is valor ; therefore 
I never mentioned the episode to one living being until 
after the smoke of battle had cleared away after the 
election, for I was aware that the prejudice against 
the negro race was still deeply rooted even in the 
minds of many Republicans, and to have it publicly 
avowed that our standard bearer was an abolitionist, 
would be equal to insure his certain defeat. Mr. Lin- 
coln, by his open-hearted and frank acknowledgment 
that he was in favor of the abolishment of slavery, then 
and there at once gained my deepest reverence and 
love. He spoke thus freely his real sentiments anent 
the institution of slavery to but few, and only to those 
whom he could implicitly trust. I shall ever regard 
this trust and confidence which he placed in me as 
one of the highest honors ever bestowed on me. 

It would be idle for me to attempt here a bio- 
graphical sketch of Abraham Lincoln. That has been 
done many times by more powerful minds and pens 
than mine. I am here to refer to such incidents only 
that came under my own personal observation. I 
shall therefore defer further remarks about Mr. Lincoln 
until the time when I shall describe my next meeting 
him, after election, in the city of Washington, during 
June, 1861. 



PART IV. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S ELECTION 

The hopes which the majority of the people of the 
North had entertained, that after the election the over- 
heated partizan zeal and passions would in time cool 
down, as after many previous elections, were quickly 
dissipated by sinister plottings in the Southern States. 
Long before Mr. Lincoln departed, as the president- 
elect, for Washington, the caldron of discontent all 
over the South was boiling over. Treason was openly 
preached and advocated, not only by Southern fire- 
eaters, but also by their Northern sympathizers, the 
so-called "mud sills," who were ever ready to do 
the dirty work of their Southern masters. 

The Legislature of Illinois convened with the 
newly-elected Governor Yates as its executive head. 
To this patriot and statesman the people of Illinois, 
as well as the whole country, owe a great debt of 
gratitude for the energetic measures he took to pre- 
vent the Southern part of Illinois from casting its lot 
with the South. As referred to in a former part of 
these reminiscences, Mr. Wm. B. Ogden and J. Young 
Scammon were members of that memorable Legisla- 
ture, and through their kind influence I was elected 
assistant enrolling and engrossing clerk of the Senate, 
Mr. D. L. Philips having been elected enrolling and 
engrossing clerk. 



90 EEMINISCENOES 

During that session of the Legislature I had the 
opportunity of making the acquaintance of many mem- 
bers who afterwards distinguished themselves either 
in the political arena or on the field of battle. As my 
quarters were in the same building in which Mr. Lin- 
coln had his modest office, I got well acquainted with 
John Hay, his secretary, who afterwards in various 
ways showed his disinterested friendship for me. Long 
after the close of the war, while going through New 
York on my way to attend the Vienna Exposition, I 
called on him at the offices of the New York Tribune, 
of which he was then one of the editors. He was the 
same kind-hearted John as when I knew him at Spring- 
field. 

Without entering into a chronological account of 
the happenings of those danger-portending days, we 
were surprised during the last week of the year 1860 
by the Palmetto flag having been raised over Fort 
Moultrie, after Major Anderson's having evacuated it 
and withdrawn to Fort Sumter. The U. S. Arsenal, 
containing 73,000 stands of arms, had been seized by 
the State of South Carolina. The State of South Caro- 
lina held its first treasonable convention, in which a 
resolution was adopted absolving United States of- 
ficers, both in civil and military service, and natives 
of the Palmetto State, from their oath of allegiance 
to the United States. During that same week, John 
B. Floyd, Secretary of War under Buchanan, cast off 
his mask by resigning his seat in President Buchanan's 
cabinet. All the above related stirring events closely 
followed each other, which fianlly awakened the over- 
confident "Peace at any price" men from their lethargy 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN'S ELECTION 91 

all over the North, including members of our Legis- 
lature. It was at this period that Capt. Elmer E. 
Ellsworth, fresh from his laurel-crowned tour of the 
United States, at the head of his unmatched Zouave 
Cadets, was a frequent visitor to the halls of the Legis- 
lature. By his soldierly bearing and handsome face, 
with raven black curls hanging down his neck, he al- 
ways succeeded in drawing an admiring crowd of 
Legislators around him. 

But Col. Ellsworth (or rather Capt. Ellsworth, as 
he had not attained as yet the rank of Colonel) was 
not the only one whose patriotic fire had prompted 
him to buttonhole every Senator and Legislator, urg- 
ing them to form military companies in their respective 
districts. Many of the naturalized citizens, who for- 
merly had served in European armies, began to organ- 
ize companies, and drilled them night after night. Of 
these a friend of mine and fellow Hungarian exile, Mr. 
Geza Mihalotzy, stands pre-eminently in the front rank 
as a patriotic and far-seeing naturalized citizen. While 
at Springfield I received the following communication 
from him : 

"Chicago, February 4, 1861. 
Dear Friend : 

Will you do me the favor to present the enclosed 
letter to the gentleman addressed (Mr. Lincoln). We 
have organized a militia company under the name of 
"Lincoln Riflemen." I have been elected Captain, and 
Kovats Lieutenant of the same. The letter addressed 
to his excellency, Mr. Lincoln, containing a request 
for permission to use his name, you will please present 
first, if he is at home ; if he is absent from Springfield, 



92 EEMINISCENCE8 

present it as soon as you have an opportunity. The 
second letter, addressed to his excellency, Gov. Yates, 
informs him of the organization of the company, and 
makes application for patent of commissioned officers 
elected according to law by the unanimous consent of 
the company, and also resolutions passed by the mem- 
bers. The third letter is an application for arms and 
accoutrements to the Adjutant-General of the State. 
We want Minnie Rifles. You will please exert your 
influence to the utmost in regard to the arms. Try 
and procure us good arms, as we are the first company 
of Hungarians and Bohemians formed in the United 
States. We wish to do honor to the country of our 
birth and the country of our adoption. I remain, re- 
spectfully yours, 

(Signed) Geza Mihalotzy." 

I at once presented the letters to the persons ad- 
dressed. Mr. Lincoln readily and gladly accorded Mr. 
Mihalotzy's request, in a letter addressed to him, 
which he gave me for transmission. Gov. Yates and 
Mr. Mather, the Adjutant General, sent their replies 
direct to Mr. Mihalotzy. That the Lincoln Riflemen, 
composed of Hungarian and Bohemian adopted citi- 
zens, with Capt. Mihalotzy as their leader, did honor 
to their adopted country, was proven subsequently on 
the field of battle. 

FORT SUMTER FIRED ON 

Fort Sumter was fired on April 12, and evacuated 
April 14, 1861. On the 19th of April Gov. Yates was 
ordered by the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, to 



rORT SUMTER FIRED ON yj 

send a large force to Cairo, which order was trans- 
mitted to General R. K. Swift, who 48 hours after 
having received the order, had left for Cairo with sev- 
eral companies, among which were the Lincoln Rifle- 
men, with Capt. Mihalotzy, who later became Lieut. 
Colonel of the 24th Illinois Volunteers, and subse- 
quently was killed at Buzzard's Bay, Tenn. 

THE SPRING OF 1861 

I must, however, return from this digression to the 
stirring times of the spring I spent in Springfield, 
while an official of the Senate, during the special ses- 
sion of the Legislature in April, 1861. 

The military atmosphere which pervaded the whole 
country also had reached Illinois, and especially the 
capital, where the law-makers were congregated to 
form laws, but instead gathered in groups and talked 
about the coming fratricidal war. Through my friend, 
Mr. I. N. Arnold, the newly elected member of Con- 
gress, it became known to Gov. Yates that I had some 
experience in military matters, having served during 
the war of Hungarian liberation under Gen. Bern. He 
sent for me and asked me whether I would enter the 
regular army if I was tendered a commission. As 
my heart and soul had always been devoted to the 
cause of liberty, it took but a moment for a decision. 
Gov. Yates at once had a petition drawn up, directed 
to Mr. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, asking for 
my appointment into the regular army. This petition 
was signed by Governor Yates ; his private secretary, 
Col. Wilson; Messrs. I. N. Arnold, member of Con- 
gress; William B. Ogden; J. Young Scammon, the 



94 BEMINISCENCES 

Speaker of the House of Representatives, and several 
members of the Legislature, as well as Ex-Governor 
Koerner ; the Secretary of State, Mr. Hatch ; and Thos. 
G. Mather, the Adjutant General of the Illinois militia. 
The petition, duly signed, was forwarded by Governor 
Yates to the War Department as an official State 
paper. 

Nev-er before, unless I except my early experience 
during the Hungarian revolution of 1848, was history 
made so fast as it was during the winter of 1860-61. 
One startling event followed another in quick succes- 
sion. State after State in the South followed the ex- 
ample of South Carolina. The President-elect of the 
United States had to go to the capital surrounded and 
guarded by secret service men. Treason was openly 
flaunted under the eyes of the still over-confident 
North. Our War Governor, ever in the fore when the 
situation required prompt and decisive action, con- 
vened the legislature in April, 1861. The special ses- 
sion of the legislature was short, but it transacted a 
vast amount of business, providing the wherewithal 
with which to support the Central Government. It 
provided the sinews of war, and after some minor im- 
portant laws and patriotic resolutions it adjourned. 

ORGANIZING A REGIMENT 

A few days after my return from Springfield a dep- 
utation of naturalized German citizens of Chicago 
called upon me, and urged upon me and a Mr. Knobels- 
dorf (a retired soldier of the Schleswig-Holstein army, 
who was at this time employed in the Land Depart- 
ment of the Illinois Central Railroad) to organize a 



ORGANIZING A BEGIMENT 95 

regiment, composed of German Americans and other 
foreign nationalities. At first I was disinclined to ac- 
cede to this proposition, as I daily expected my ap- 
pointment to the regular army, but as among some of 
those who urged me were Chicago's foremost German 
Americans, such as George Schneider, Anton C. Hes- 
sing, Casper Butz and Lorenz Brentano, I finally con- 
sented, and on the 11th of May, 1861, Mr. Knobelsdorf 
and myself started in to organize a regiment of in- 
fantry, which afterwards was known as the 24th Illi- 
nois Infantry. We established a camp (which we 
named "Camp Robert Blum") in the grove just south 
of 35th street, or Douglas Place, as it was called then, 
and we had also a recruiting place in the city. The 
Lincoln Riflemen, Capt. Geza Mihalotzy, and the 
Turner Union Cadets (German Turners) both being 
desirous of being incorporated with the 24th Illinois 
Infantry, it became a question how to get their release 
from the three months' service in which they were 
then engaged at Cairo, under the command of Gen. 
Geo. B. McClellan. As I was personally acquainted 
with the General, this acquaintance dating back to the 
time when he was connected with the Illinois Central 
Railroad, while I was in the service of the Marine 
Bank, of Chicago, I went to see him at Cairo, hoping 
to effect the release of the above named two compan- 
ies, armed as I was with a letter from Gov. Yates ask- 
ing for the release. I found the General at his head- 
quarters, which was on board of an Illinois Central 
car. After listening to my arguments for awhile, he 
readily granted my request. The two companies from 
Cairo and a company recruited in Ottawa by Capt. 



19 REMINISCENCES 

Henry J. Reed completed the ranks of the regiment, 
and we were ready to have it accepted on the Presi- 
dent's first call for 75,000 men. We, that is Mr. 
Knobelsdorf and myself, started for Washington, ex- 
pecting that our regiment would be readily accepted by 
the War Department. At this juncture my acquaint- 
ance with Mr. John Hay, one of President Lincoln's 
private secretaries, was of great advantage to me, for 
while it was very difficult during those tumultuous and 
busy days to get an interview with the President, it 
was comparatively easy to gain admittance to the sec- 
retary's room. Once in his room, he promised to do 
everything in his power to help me. In the meantime 
we handed in our application to the War Department. 
After several days' waiting in vain for a reply, I called 
on the Secretary of War in person. On seeing me, as 
I entered his office, he accosted me with, "Ah, it is you 
of the Chicago Cameron and Lincoln Club who wants 
a regiment accepted. I am very sorry to have to dis- 
appoint you ; the offers are more than twice the quota 
asked for. But," he added, "as for yourself, the War 
Department would be ready to give you a commission 
in the regular army, coming recommended as you have 
come." I thanked Mr. Cameron for his kind offer, 
but I told him that under the circumstances, and in the 
position I found myself as the representative of a regi- 
ment composed almost entirely of naturalized citizens, 
I could not accept any position whatever unless the 
regiment was accepted. 

We had been in Washington for over a week, and 
we were no nearer to the fulfillment of our hopes than 
ever. After a consultation with our Representative, 



OEGANIZING A BEGIMENT 97 

Mr. I. N. Arnold, to whom I related my last interview 
with the Secretary of War, we decided to seek an inter- 
view with Mr. Lincoln himself, urging him to accept 
the regiment. I saw also Gen. N. P. Banks, who had been 
appointed meanwhile Major General. I had a slight 
acquaintance with Gen. Banks, dating back to the time 
when he also was connected with the Illinois Central 
as its Vice President. He readily consented to aid 
me all he could, and made an appointment with me 
to call on him the following morning at 9 o'clock at 
his room at the Willard Hotel, and we would go to 
the White House. I therefore acquainted Mr. Arnold 
with this plan, and he promised to be at the White 
House at the appointed hour. When Gen. Banks, 
Col. Knobelsdorf and myself arrived at the White 
House, we found not only the ante-room but even the 
corridor filled with Governors of various Northern 
States, Senators and Representatives, waiting to see 
the President, almost every one of them bent on the 
same errand we were on, — namely, to have him accept 
their respective regiments which they had come to 
otier to the Government, 

The question of how to gain admittance, while so 
many eminent statesmen were waiting, was quickly 
solved by my friend, John Hay, who a few minutes 
after I sent my card to him, stepped to the door of his 
office and quietly asked us (Mr. I. N. Arnold, Col. 
Knobelsdorf and myself) to step into his office, Gen. 
Banks, having been previously admitted into Mr. Lin- 
coln's room. I must not omit to mention that both 
Col. Knobelsdorf and myself were clad in the Austrian 
Jaeger Regiment uniform, which by its novelty pro- 



98 BEMINISCENCES 

duced quite an impression. Without tarrying in his 
office, Mr. Hay led us into the President's room, where 
we found Salmon P. Chase and Gen. Banks, who evi- 
dently had spoken about us to the President. 

I was startled at the haggard appearance of the 
President. The cares of State seemed to weigh heavily 
upon him. The buoyant spirit which had kept him 
up during the late political campaign had left him. I 
had never seen such a change within so short a time 
in the appearance of a man. These sad reflections 
were soon dispelled by Mr. Arnold formally introduc- 
ing us to the President and the Secretary of the 
Treasury, as "Col. Knobelsdorf and Major Kune of 
a German-American Regiment which they had come 
to offer to the Government." I thereupon handed the 
President the application which had been returned to 
me during my last interview with the Secretary of 
War. On looking at it he remarked : 'T see that 
Cameron is opposed to accepting any more regiments. 
I am afraid I cannot help you, for (this with a twinkle 
in his eye )my influence with this administration don't 
amount to much." "Then again," he continued, "we 
have seventy-five thousand men already in the field, 
and if we should accept any more we would not be 
able to feed them." When he had finished, something 
within me, which I cannot explain, urged me to com- 
bat the President's fears, and I said (as near as I can 
remember words spoken over a half century ago), "Mr. 
President, you say that you have already seventy-five 
thousand men in the field. Permit me to tell you that 
it will take many times seventy-five thousand before 
this rebellion is put down ; and as to the feeding propo- 



OBGANIZING A REGIMENT 99 

sition, the prairies of our own State of Illinois can 
raise more than enough to feed a million soldiers." For 
a moment I thought that the audacity of this short 
reply had spoiled everything, but upon casting my 
eyes on Mr. Chase and Gen. Banks I caught their 
glances of approval. Mr. Lincoln quietly handed our 
application to Mr, Hay with the remark: "John, en- 
close this paper with an order to the War Department 
to accept this regiment." The order was immediately 
written out and signed by the President and given to 
me, as I thought then, the happiest mortal on earth. 
As we filed out of the White House, and the news 
spread that the Hecker Regiment (the 24th Illinois) 
was accepted. Governors, Senators and Representa- 
tives gathered around us, among which were Lyman 
Trumbull and John P. Kellogg, both of whom had 
regiments to offer on behalf of their political friends, 
wondering how it all happened. I have been particu- 
lar in giving a detailed account of this last interview 
with Abraham Lincoln, for the purpose of showing 
the steady and gradual growth of his conception of 
the magnitude of the war of the rebellion. At first Mr. 
Lincoln, imbued with most tender and kindly feelings, 
could not think otherwise than that after the first clash 
of arms and the first victory on the part of the North, 
the erring and misled sons of the South would return 
to the Union like prodigal sons. As soon as he saw 
he was in error, and that one of our foremost generals 
expressed his conviction that it would require two 
hundred thousand soldiers to conquer the State of 
Kentucky, he was ready to call out a million more 
men after the acceptance of our regiment. 



lOQ REMINISCENCES 

ORDERED TO THE SEAT OF WAR 

Our return to Chicago was soon followed by an 
order from the War Department, dated May 28th, 
1861, "that the regiments commanded by Col. Scott, 
Goodes, Marsh and Dougherty, and the independent 
regiment commanded by Col. Hecker, may report to 
General McClellan to be mustered into the United 
States three years' service." Accordingly Col. Scott's 
Zouave Regiment was mustered in as the 19th Illinois 
Infantry, and the Hecker Regiment, as the 24th Illinois 
Infantry by Captain Pitcher of the regular army. It 
is proper here to mention the fact that Col. Scott, who 
was as modest as he was brave, resigned his colonelcy 
in favor of Jchn B. Turchin. (His name in Russian 
was "Ivan B. Turchinefif.") This gentleman at the 
time the Civil War broke out was in the civil engineer 
department of the Illinois Central Railroad. He had 
been an officer in the Russian army, but having been 
of a liberal turn of mind, he resigned and came to this 
country, accompanied by his wife, who subsequently 
proved herself a second Florence Nightingale in car- 
ing for and nursing the wounded of her husband's 
regiment and brigade. General Turchin was born 
Jan. 23, 1823, in the province of Don, Russia. He had 
a thorough military education and became a member 
of the Russian general staff. He saw service in the 
campaign against Hungary and the Crimea. Being of 
a liberal turn of mind he resigned and came to the 
United States and took service with the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad as civil engineer. At the breaking out 
of our civil war he was offered a colonelcy in the 19th 



ELECTION OF EEGIMENTAL OFFICEE IQl 

Illinois. He soon made the 19th the best drilled regi- 
ment in the army of the Cumberland. He distin- 
guished himself at the capture of Huntsville, Alabama, 
and at Missionary Ridge. He was court martialed by 
Don Carlos Buel for freeing slaves, but Lincoln instead 
of approving the verdict of dismissal made him Briga- 
dier General, 

One of the unfortunate drawbacks that prolonged 
the fratracidal war between the South and the North, 
was the inordinate ambition of place hunters in the 
armies of both North and South. They cared more for 
what the obtaining of a commission brought them, 
both in power and emoluments, than for the cause in 
which they should have been interested. Envy, that 
most despicable of human passions, caused ofificers to 
scheme and plan the ruination of their brother officers. 
Well said Abraham a Sancta Clara, the celebrated monk 
preacher : "The envious man finds satisfaction in his 
own misery, if he only notes that it is not well with 
his neighbor." Also: "The prodigal son's brother is 
envy" 

ELECTION OF REGIMENTAL OFFICERS 

Prior to our being mustered in, the regiment held 
an election, which to my amazement resulted not in 
accordance with the understanding we had as to the 
selection of the regimental field officers. Frederick 
Hecker was elected Colonel and myself Major, but 
Geza Mihalotzy was elected Lieut. Colonel instead of 
Knobelsdorf, which was a clear breach of faith on the 
part of the officers of the regiment. Subsequent events 
clearly proved that Col. Hecker's hand was in the 



102 REMINISCENCES 

change. I should have refused to accept the office 
then and there, but friends, among whom were the 
whole editorial staff of the Chicago Press and Tribune, 
urged me not to do it, and promised to aid Knobels- 
dorf in raising another regiment, which he subse- 
quently did and became its commander. 

After having been mustered in, as stated above, by 
Capt. Pitcher, and after having received our arms and 
equipments, we were ordered to Alton, 111., instead of 
to Gen. Geo. B. McClellan at Cairo, as was designated 
by the War Department's general order of May 28, as 
above referred to. At Alton we went into camp just 
outside of the city, and tarried there long enough to 
put the regiment through the elementary branches of 
a soldier's schooling, such as marching, the proper 
handling of firearms, company drill, etc. 

CROSSING THE MISSOURI 

After two weeks' camping near Alton, our regi- 
ment was ordered to cross the Missouri river at St. 
Charles. There was but one transport boat, and that 
a small one. It took all night to transport the regi- 
ment across the river. I could never unravel the 
puzzle as to why this crossing the river was made 
during the night instead of the day time. There was 
no enemy within a hundred. miles from us. It was 
probably done to invest the movement of our army 
(composed as it was then of one regiment of 1,200 
men, with no artillery, no quartermaster or commis- 
sary department), with the mystery of higher strategy. 
I was in charge of the steam ferry boat, and crossed 
the river at least a dozen times during that night. It 



COL. U. S. GEANT 103 

was daylight before the last man and baggage wagon 
was carried over. 

Once over, we were marched and countermarched 
several miles through the Missouri river bottom lands. 
We halted at last near a small village where we went 
into camp just outside of it. The question was now 
how to appease the hunger of 1,200 men, who had not 
tasted food since leaving Alton on the previous after- 
noon. It develops upon the Major of a regiment to 
superintend its commissary department and buy the 
supplies and pay the bills, but it does not state in the 
army regulations how to perform those duties when 
there is no money in the regimental treasury, and that 
was the condition of our treasury on this early and 
chilly morning. The Colonel and Quartermaster, when 
I applied to them, refused to have the latter issue regu- 
lar army vouchers, so the only alternative left for me 
was to give my own personal notes for meat and bread 
for the whole regiment which notes I subsequently 
paid out of my private purse and for which the govern- 
ment is still in my debt. I could not think for a minute 
of seeing the men starve. I relate this in order to 
record the second breach between Col. Hecker and 
myself, the first having occurred in the Alton camp, 
when on one hot and sultry afternoon I led the regi- 
ment to the Missouri river for a plunge, and afterward 
regaled them with a glass of beer to each one, which 
I had bought and paid for with my own money. 

COL. U. S. GRANT 

Our regiment was soon ordered to take charge of 
the railroad leading from St. Charles to Mexico. It 



104 REMINISCENCES 

was here that we met the 21st Illinois Infantry, com- 
manded by Col. U. S. Grant. To one unacquainted 
with him, he appeared more like a prosperous farmer 
of the country than a Colonel of a regiment. There 
was no sword dangling from his side; all the adorn- 
ment about his plain blue army blouse was the Col- 
onel's "Insignia." Both the 24th and the 21st Illinois 
regiments were in General John M. Palmer's Brigade, 
the same Palmer who at the breaking out of the Civil 
War was a Senator in the State Legislature, and an 
ardent patriot, although an old staunch Democrat. He 
was Colonel of the 13th Illinois Volunteers and soon 
attained the rank of Brigadier General. Many years 
afterward he was elected Governor of Illinois, and it 
was during his incumbency that the great Chicago 
fire occurred. His controversy with Phil Sheridan 
over the latter's taking charge of the burnt-down city 
did not add laurels to his reputation as a man of good 
judgment, although while at Springfield during 1860, 
as Senator from Macoupin County, he was the leader 
of the Democratic minority. 



PART V. 

THE TWENTY-FOURTH ILLINOIS AT MEXICO 

During our stay at Mexico the regiment frequently- 
sent detachments in various directions to thwart the 
design of the Confederate General Price in bringing 
Missouri into the Confederacy. While the regiment 
during these excursions in small detachments met with 
no active resistance on the part of the Missourians, it 
suffered considerably from the lack of a properly 
organized commissary department. As we were pur- 
suing bands of guerillas, we were obliged to adopt 
the guerilla methods of commandeering subsistence 
for the regiment. We also took possession of railroads 
and their equipment when the necessity required it. 
It was only a short time after our arrival at Mexico 
that I became acquainted with Colonel U. S. Grant 
of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers. While in Mex- 
ico, Colonel Grant was made brigadier general. Brig- 
adier General Pope commanded the district embracing 
all of Missouri between the Mississippi and Missouri 
rivers. 

Of course it would be as idle for me to give here 
a biographical sketch of U. S. Grant as it would be to 
give one of Napoleon, Washington or Lincoln. Every 
schoolboy of the civilized world knows the lives of 
these great men by heart. My aim is but to mention 

105 



106 BEMINISCENCES 

incidents that happened during the short time I had 
the pleasure of belonging to his brigade. As is well 
known, Captain Grant was in the leather business with 
his father at Galena, 111., at the breaking out of the 
Civil War. He had formed a friendship with the Hon. 
E. B. Washburn, a fellow townsman and member of 
Congress from the Galena district. Mr. Washburn, 
being a man of keen perception, brought it about that 
Captain Grant, after much urging, was given a place 
in the adjutant-general's office at Springfield as an aide 
to Thos. S. Mather, adjutant-general of the state mili- 
tia, in mustering in the various Illinois troops offered. 
Both Grant and his friend, Mr. Washburn, were satis- 
fied that the latent military talent of the former could 
be better brought to the surface at the head of a regi- 
ment than sitting at a desk in the adjutant-general's 
office; hence Captain Grant resigned his position at 
Springfield about the middle of June, 1861, and he 
was placed at the head of the Twenty-first regiment 
of Illinois Volunteers, which was raised at Mattoon, 
111. Although I may have seen Captain Grant at his 
desk in Springfield in Gen. Mather's office, as I was a 
frequent visitor there between May 18th and July 8th, 
1861, I have no recollection of the fact, so the first 
time I met him was in northern Missouri, while he 
still was colonel of the Twenty-first and myself major 
of the Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry. 

I am bound to confess that my first impression was 
not of the extraordinary kind. I simply saw in him a 
colonel whose appearance indicated good common 
sense in not endeavoring to impress upon one his great 
importance by outward regimentals and adornments. 



LEONAED SWETT AND GEN. GRANT 107 

I had occasion to learn this lesson, that good common 
sense in matters of dress and general deportment, if 
not always yet very often indicates good generalship. 
General Moltke, whom I subsequently met during the 
Franco-Prussian war, was one of the shining examples 
of great strategy and generalship who never wore a 
sword or any outward adornments in the field. 

LEONARD SWETT AND GENERAL GRANT 

That Gen. Grant was persistent in his ideas, when 
once adopted, was clearly indicated to me by hiSi 
sphinxlike silence and his set face. It is just what 
you would expect him to say, when planting himselfi 
before the enemy: "I will fight it out on this line if 
it takes all summer," This decisive and firm character 
of Gen, Grant was attested to by no less a person 
than Abraham Lincoln. Leonard Swett, an intimate 
friend of Mr. Lincoln, went post haste to Washington 
to complain about Gen. Grant, who was then in com- 
mand at Cairo, 111., of having threatened him with 
court martial and having him shot unless he left his 
military district within twenty-four hours, 

"Well, Swett," said Mr. Lincoln, "if I were in your 
place I should keep out of Ulysses Simpson's baili- 
wick, for to the best of my knowledge and belief 
Grant will keep his promise if he catches you iri 
Cairo, In fact, Leonard, you had better take to the 
woods, as the colored man's brother remarked." Mr« 
Swett took Mr. Lincoln's advice and kept out of Gen. 
Grant's bailiwick. 

To resume the story of Gen. Grant's rapid advance 
to prominence during the Civil War, I will merely; 



108 BEMINISCENCES 

record facts which came under my own personal ob- 
servation. We had not been long together at Mexico, 
Mo., when the Twenty-first Illinois (Grant's regiment) 
was transferred posthaste to Pilot Knob, Mo. The 
Twenty-fourth Illinois (the Hecker regiment) soon 
followed, going through St. Louis and taking the Iron 
Mountain Railroad over to Pilot Knob. While pass- 
ing through St. Louis I was attacked by malarial fever 
which necessitated my remaining in St. Louis under 
medical care. After a couple of weeks' treatment by 
the best physicians I could find in St. Louis I was 
ready to rejoin my regiment, when I received a letter 
from Col. Hecker advising me to remain in St. Louis 
until he came there and consulted with me about rais- 
ing a company of mounted artillery to be attached to 
our regiment. Col. Hecker soon made his appearance 
in St. Louis, where he unfolded to me his plans about 
the recruiting of that company of mounted artillery, 
and asked me to effect an order from General John C. 
Fremont, commanding the Department of the West, 
for permission and an order to establish a recruiting 
office at St. Louis. When asked why he did not make 
the application himself, since his position as colonel 
of the regiment would exert greater influence upon 
Gen. Fremont than my position as major, he replied 
that I could more easily obtain that permission through 
Gen, Fremont's chief of staff, Gen. Alexander Asboth, 
a fellow exile and a good friend of mine. As this 
argument was unanswerable, I consented to under- 
take the task after receiving Col. Hecker's official ap- 
plication in writing. 



GEN. JOHN C. FKEMONT 109 

GEN, JOHN C, FREMONT AND HIS BRILLIANT STAFF 

A few words here about Gen. John C. Fremont 
might not be amiss. There was no general, and I 
might say no West Point officer who entered the field 
of activity during the Civil War who had the prestige 
or was as well known to the people of the country as 
was the Pathfinder and the first presidential candidate 
of the Republican party. President Lincoln, wishing 
to do honor both to the man and to the party whose 
standard bearer Fremont had been in 1856, appointed 
him major general and commander of the Department 
of the West. There is no doubt but that Fremont, like 
George B. McClellan, was an excellent organizer, but 
rather dilatory in striking the blow that would dis- 
concert the enemy. He surrounded himself with a 
brilliant stafif, mostly Hungarians and officers of the 
late Hungarian republic, among whom was Col. As- 
both, who, while interned in Turkey, was Kossuth's 
aide and factotum. Col. Asboth was later made briga- 
dier general and given a command of a division. He 
repeatedly distinguished himself in battle, not only 
during the Civil War, but also during the Hungarian 
struggle against Austria and Russia. He was a dashing 
cavalry officer. He was twice wounded, the last time 
his left cheek bone being broken and his left arm 
fractured in two places. He was breveted major gen- 
eral March 13, 1865, resigning five months later. In 
1866 he was appointed United States minister to the 
Argentine Republic and Uruguay, where he died from 
the wound in his face, January 21, 1868. Then there 
was Col. Fiala, also a Hungarian exile, who held the 



110 REMINISCENCES 

rank of major in the Hungarian army. Then last, 
but not least, was Capt. Zagonyi, the organizer and 
commander of the famous "Fremont bodyguard," con- 
sisting of four companies of horsemen. He recruited 
one in St. Louis, one in Cincinnati, one in Kentucky, 
and one in Wisconsin. Captain, afterwards Major 
Zagonyi, commenced recruiting the St. Louis company 
August 10, 1861, and on the 12th the company was 
complete. The uniform of the bodyguard was of a 
dark blue material and very neat ; their horses were all 
selected by Maj. Zagonyi. The bodyguard numbered 
about 150 fighting men, and their dash at Springfield. 
Mo., where with 150 men they attacked 2,000 of the 
enemy and routed them, equalled the charge of the 
Six Hundred at Balaklava, immortalized by Tennyson. 
They lost in this impetuous dash 52 men in killed and 
wounded, or over thirty-three per cent of their fight- 
ing force, with a loss of 40 horses. This battle oc- 
curred on the 25th of October. I never could learn 
why this splendid body of cavalry was ordered to be 
disbanded and mustered out of service immediately 
after Fremont's return to St. Louis from his expedi- 
tion in quest of Gen. Price, and his removal from the 
command of the Department of the West. 

General Fremont's staff was organized according 
to European military rules, and it was efficient enough 
to evolve plans in the office, but these plans were not 
executed with sufficient promptitude to bear good 
results. 

Although I was not versed in the science of the 
higher tactics and strategy, I could form a correct 
opinion of the fruitless activity and waste of time at 



JESSIE BENTOX FEEMOXT m 

Gen, Fremont's headquarters, where, during full two 
weeks I danced attendance before I could gain ad- 
mission to Gen. Fremont's presence. I doubt whether 
there was as much difficulty and ceremony displayed 
in gaining an audience with any emperor or king as 
there was in order to be ushered into the presence of 
Fremont at St. Louis. Gen. Prentiss, who commanded 
a brigade under Gen. Fremont at that time, could bear 
witness, were he alive, to what I say. Many times 
during the two weeks which I spent at Fremont's 
headquarters did Gen. Prentiss complain to me that, 
although he wished to see the department commander 
on official business, he was unable to do so. I subse- 
quently learned what that official business referred to. 
It was connected with his refusing to be placed under 
the orders of the recently appointed brigadier general, 
U. S. Grant, claiming his commission antedated that 
of Grant. 

JESSIE BENTON FREMONT 

When at last I was admitted into the presence of 
Gen. Fremont I was awestricken by the splendor of 
the room in which he received his visitors. Right 
opposite the entrance to this room was a large pier 
glass mirror, behind which stood Mrs. Jessie Benton 
Fremont, whence she could hear every word of the 
conversation held between the general and his visitors. 
I was afterwards told that she invariably observed 
that rule, without regard to who the visitor or visitors 
might be. I was further informed that the general 
never gave a decisive answer on any subject unless he 
had first consulted Mrs. Fremont. 



112 REMINISCENCES 

It is worthy of note that when Gen. Fremont left 
St. Louis on the 26th of September, 1861, with his 
army, composed of Gen. Franz Sigel and Gen. Asboth's 
division, he never failed to report daily every incident 
of his movements and camp life to Mrs. Fremont. 

My interview with Gen. Fremont referred exclu- 
sively to his permission that I should establish a re- 
cruiting station in St. Louis for the enlistment of a 
company of mounted artillery, the company to be 
incorporated into the Twenty-fourth Illinois regiment. 
The permission was granted. I doubted at the time 
whether Gen. Fremont had the authority, without the 
sanction of the War Department, to give such a per- 
mission, but it was not for me to question the order 
given me by my colonel nor the propriety of Gen. 
Fremont's approval of my application. 

RECRUITING FOR MOUNTED ARTILLERY 

I at once secured a recruiting office, where I in- 
stalled two men — a sergeant and a corporal — of my 
regiment. To do this it took about ten to fourteen 
days, when I concluded to rejoin my regiment at Iron- 
ton, Mo. Having telegraphed my orderly to have my 
horse waiting for me at Pilot Knob, the terminal of 
the Iron Mountain Railroad, I took the train for that 
point. On arriving there I was greatly surprised to 
learn from my orderly that Col. Hecker, with the larger 
portion of the regiment, had been sent by Gen. Grant 
to Frederickton to efifect a junction with Cape Girar- 
deau, and move thence to Cairo. Arrived at Ironton 
I went direct to Gen. Grant's headquarters, which was 
in a tent in a grove. The general being out I intro- 



BIDE WITH GEN. GRANT 113 

duced myself to Capt. Rawlins, who subsequently be- 
came chief of staff during Gen. Grant's military 
career, and after the latter's election to the presidency, 
his Secretary of War. The general soon appeared and 
he gave me a short resume of the incidents that led 
him to send the Twenty-fourth to Frederickton. He 
would not advise me to try and join the regiment 
without any escort, as the country was swarming with 
guerillas ; consequently I had to wait until an oppor- 
tunity offered itself for my joining an expedition, either 
to Cape Girardeau, or else I would have to return to 
St. Louis and go thence to Cairo, where I would ulti- 
mately join my regiment. 

HORSEBACK RIDE WITH GENERAL GRANT 

On the day following my arrival at Ironton, an 
Ohio regiment of infantry was to arrive there and be- 
come part of Gen. Grant's brigade, and the general 
came down to my tent, inviting me to accompany him 
in a horseback ride in quest of a good camping ground 
for the Ohio regiment. Our ride of two hours' dura- 
tion can never be effaced from my memory, for al- 
though my tactiturn riding companion did not betray 
any marked traits of great generalship, by his silence 
and quiet listening to my recital of events connected 
with the war which Hungary waged against the com- 
bined armies of Austria and Russia, in which I was a 
participant, still he impressed me as being a deeply 
thinking man, by his many questions relating to that 
war, its cause, and the reason for its unlucky closing. 
He showed a familiarity with the traits and characters 
of the various generals engaged in that war. Before 



114: EEMINISCENCES 

leaving this subject I can not refrain from giving here 
my humble testimony to the magnanimity of the man 
who, arrived at the zenith of his victory over a fallen 
foe, advised the Confederate prisoners to retain their 
swords and horses and have the first turned into plow- 
shares and the latter into working animals, and whose 
last parting word to them was: "Let us have peace." 

COLONEL RANSOM 

In one of his letters to his friend, the Hon. E. B. 
Washburn, Gen. Grant wrote : "If you are acquainted 
with Senator Collamore of Vermont, I would be 
pleased if you would say to him that there is a young 
colonel of the Eleventh Illinois regiment, a native of 
his state, that I have taken a great interest in, for his 
gallantry and worth. I mean Colonel Ransom. He 
has now been wounded three times in separate en- 
gagements, but never showed a willingness to relin- 
quish his command until the day was decided, and al- 
ways declines leave to recover from his wounds, lest 
something should transpire while absent." I quote 
the above extract describing the gallant traits of Col. 
Ransom, as a tribute to the general's generous appre- 
ciation of Col. Ransom's self-sacrificing patriotism, as 
well as a tribute to Col. Thos. E. G. Ransom himself, 
who, before the war broke out, had been a friend of 
mine while in the employ of the Hon. A. J. Galloway's 
real estate office in Chicago. He enlisted as major of 
the Eleventh Illinois, Col. Wallace commanding.. He 
was made colonel of the regiment Feb. 2, 1862, and 
brigadier general Nov. 29, 1862. He served through 
the Civil War, always distinguishing himself by his 



PEESONAL EXPLANATIONS 115 

gallantry. He finally died Oct. 29, 1864, from wounds 
received at Sabine crossroads in April, 1864. 

PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 

I have now reached the point in my Reminiscences 
where I shall have to ask the indulgence of my readers 
if I should weary them with the account of my strug- 
gles against Col. Hecker, who illegally endeavored 
to force me out from the regiment which I had organ- 
ized at an expense of time and money, and put into 
my place one who, by his Machiavelian intrigues and 
jovial entertainments given to the colonel, was more 
to the latter's liking. The trouble with me was I 
could not join the colonel in his periodical drinking 
orgies. 

Just as I was preparing to leave St. Louis for 
Cairo, in order to join my regiment, I learned that the 
destination had been changed from Cairo to Washing- 
ton, D. C, to join the Army of the Potomac. It will 
be remembered that Gen, Grant sent the larger part 
of the regiment to form a junction with Cape Girar- 
deau early in September; that Gen. Prentiss was 
spending much valuable time in St. Louis at Gen. 
Fremont's headquarters, seeking to establish the prior- 
ity of his rank as brigadier general over that of Gen. 
Grant. Gen. Prentiss was fully aware of my mission 
in St. Louis, as I told him of it not once, but on 
several occasions while we were both waiting to gain 
an audience, and still we see him go back and approve 
an illegitimate order for my retirement from the regi- 
ment. I do not attribute any wilfull, malicious intent 
to do me injury, but ignorance and a total lack of 



116 REMINISCENCES 

military ethics. It was never heard of for a mere 
brigadier general to retire an officer on account of 
sickness, without even the least vestige of a medical 
examination and the knowledge of the officer himself. 
On the 17th of September I received through the 
mail the following extraordinary letter: 

"Fort Holt, Sept. 16th, 1861. 
Julian Kune, Esq. : 

In accordance with general order No. 6, issued by 
Gen. Prentiss on the 29th day of August, 1861, I have 
to notify you again that you have been honorably dis- 
charged from further service in my regiment, on ac- 
count of the state of your health, which unfits you to 
bear the hardships of the campaign. 

I sent this notice to your address in Chicago imme- 
diately after the order was issued, but it seems that 
you have not received that communication. 

You are therefore requested not to recruit any 
more for my regiment, as your functions in the same 
have expired on the 29th of August last. 
Respectfully, 
(Signed) FREDERICK HECKER, 

Col. 24th Ills. Vols." 

On receipt of this at my recruiting office, the ad- 
dress of which was well known to Col. Hecker, I 
immediately went to Gen. Fremont's headquarters, 
complaining of this unheard of proceeding on the part 
of both Gen. Prentiss and Col. Hecker. Upon listen- 
ing to my complaint the adjutant general of the West- 
ern Department issued the following order : 



PEBSONAL EXPLANATIONS 117 

"Hdqrs. Western Dept., St. Louis, Mo, 

Sept. 17, 1861. 
Special Order 209. 

Major Julian Kune, 24th Ills. Volunteers, will pro- 
ceed to join his regiment at Washington. By order 
of General Fremont. 

I. C. KELTON, Asst. Adj. Genl." 

Meanwhile the Twenty-fourth Illinois was ordered 
to Louisville, Ky., where Brig. Gen. Anderson was in 
command of the Department of the Cumberland. As 
soon as I could close up my recruiting office and set- 
tle up outstanding accounts against the regiment, such 
as rent, etc., I proceeded to Louisville via Cincinnati, 
immediately after the railroad accident to the Nine- 
teenth Illinois Volunteers, by which scores were killed 
and wounded. Arrived at Louisville I presented Gen. 
Fremont's special order 209 to Gen. Anderson, who 
endorsed the order in a most extraordinary way, show- 
ing, as it subsequently turned out, that he was not a 
commander entirely free from vacillation where 
prompt decision was required. 

General Anderson's endorsement: 

"Headqrs. Dept. Cumberland, 
Louisville, Ky., Sept. 30, '61. 
The gentleman bearing this order presented him- 
self to me (Major Kune) this day, but as I learn from 
him and from papers presented to me by Col. Hecker, 
that a question has been of long standing embracing 
facts and proper investigation of which is necessary 
to ascertain whether or not he is an officer of the regi- 



118 REMINISCENCES 

ment, I shall refer the whole matter to the Governor 
of Illinois, whose province it is to decide who are 
entitled to commissions in this regiment. I have no 
time to attempt the investigation of this case. 

(Signed) ROBERT ANDERSON, 

Br. Genl. U. S. Army." 

On receiving this surprising endorsement upon a 
special order issued by a higher officer of the army, 
there was nothing left for me to do but to take back 
tracks to Springfield, 111., and to appeal to Governor 
Yates, and here is what he wrote : 

"Gen'l Headquarters State of Ills. 
Oct. 3d, 1861. 
Special Order No. 1294 : 

It is hereby certified that under executive order 
of the 26th of August, 1861, a commission was issued 
to Julian Kune as Major of the Twenty-fourth regi- 
ment of Illinois Volunteers, bearing date August 26th, 
1861, and ranking him as Major from the 17th day of 
June, '61, and that no other order has been issued from 
this department touching the right of Major Kune to 
his commission, and unless the United States authori- 
ties have in some legal manner suspended his powers 
as Major, he is still entitled to be recognized as such. 

(Signed) THOMAS S. MATHER, 
Approved Oct. 3, 1861. Adjt. General Illinois. 

RICHARD YATES, Governor." 

While I was engaged in Springfield in securing the 
above certificate from Governor Yates, Gen. Anderson 
had been relieved from his command of the Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland and in his stead Brig. Gen. 



PEBSONAL EXPLANATIONS 119 

W. Tecumseh Sherman was placed. This change was 
really no surprise to me, as I did not think Gen. An- 
derson's executive abilities of sufficient strength to 
cope with the situation that existed then in the border 
states of Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Never having met Gen. Sherman before, and not 
wishing to be treated like I had been by Anderson, 
I decided to go direct to Washington and lay my case 
before the War Department. It is proper for me to 
remark here that after the issuance of Gen. Prentiss' 
illegal order depriving me of my rank as major, sev- 
eral officers of the Twenty-fourth Illinois, seeing the 
gross injustice, embraced my cause. These officers 
appointed a committee composed of myself, Capt. 
Augustus Mauff and Lieut. E. F. C. Klokke, to go to 
Washington and submit our grievances to the War 
Department. 

Thanks to the good offices of my friends in the 
War Department and in President's Lincoln's house- 
hold, we soon secured the following order: 

"War Department, Adjutant General's Office. 
Washington, Oct. 14, 1861. 
Special Order No. 278: 

In accordance with the decision of the Secretary 
of War, Major Julian Kune, Capt. Augustus Maufif and 
2nd Lieut. E. F. C. Klokke, 24th Illinois Vols., now 
in this city, will repair to Louisville, Ky., and report 
to Brig. General W. T. Sherman, commanding Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland, for duty with the regiment. 

By order, C. R. GAUSCH, 

Asst. Adjt. Genl." 



120 EE.MINISCENCES 

Four days later General Sherman issued the follow- 
ing order: 

"Headquarters Department of the Cumberland. 
Louisville, Ky., October 18th, 1861. 
Special Order No. 61 : 

Major Julian Kune, Capt. Augustus Mauff and 2nd 
Lieut. E. F. C. Klokke, 24th Ills. Vols., having re- 
ported at these headquarters in obedience to special 
orders No. 278 War Department, Adjt. Gen'ls office, 
will, in conformity to the instructions of the Secretary 
of War, repair to Colesburgh, the camp of their regi- 
ment, and report to the colonel thereof for duty with 
the regiment. 

By command of Brig. Genl. Sherman. 

(Signed) OLIVER D. GREEN, 

Asst. Adjt. Genl." 

One would suppose that the colonel would have 
bowed in obedience to the above order of Gen. Sher- 
man, but not so with our so-called hero of Baden, who 
gloried in his contempt for laws, whether enacted in a 
free commonwealth like the United States or in a des- 
potic dukedom, whence he was expelled. 

Armed with the above order I, accompanied by 
Capt. Mauff and Lieut. Klokke, reported at once to 
the colonel of our regiment in camp at Colesburg, Ky. 
His reception was cold and surly, simply saying: 
"Well, major, you may take charge of the dress parade 
this afternoon and have General Sherman's order read 
to the regiment." In conformity with this order I 



PEESONAL EXPLANATIONS 121 

conducted the dress parade and had Gen. Sherman's 
order read. This done, I retired to the tent which had 
been reserved for me, and while quietly sitting on a 
camp stool I was startled by the sound of a pistol 
shot and by the whistling of a ball through my tent, 
perforating the canvas on two ends. I immediately 
reported this attempt to assassinate me to the colonel, 
with a request to incorporate my report in his daily 
report to Gen. Sherman. The colonel, however, in- 
stead of reporting the incident as given to him by me, 
reported an entirely dififerent story about the shooting 
episode While willing to sacrifice my life on the field 
of battle, I did not wish to be assassinated in camp, 
so I myself wrote a full report of the incident and sent 
it to headquarters at Louisville. My report evidently 
had been forwarded with that of Col. Hecker to Wash- 
ington, for in due course of time came an order from 
the Secretary of War, accompanied by a letter from 
Gen. Sherman to Col. Hecker, the vital portions of 
which I give, as follows : 

"Adjutant General's Office. 
Washington, October 14, 1861. 
To Brigadier General W. T. Sherman, 
Commanding Dept. of the Cumberland, 
Louisville, Ky. 
General : 

The following decision of the Secretary of War in 
the matter of the officers of the 24th Regt. of Ills. 
Vols, is respectfully furnished for your information, 
viz.: 



123 BEMINISCENCES 

1st. That the order discharging the officers, who 
had been duly commissioned and mustered, is not valid 
until ratified by the War Department; that the War 
Department has not raitfied it, but has ordered them 
to be restored. 

2nd. That consequently the officers appointed to 
their places must be mustered out and discharged, and 
both sets, the officers in fact and of right, may be 
entitled to pay for the time. The error in the case 
was not their error. But the question of the pay of 
the officers pro tem ought to be reserved for the 
special decision of the War Department after all the 
facts of their appointment and service are ascertained. 

That with such relations between the colonel of a 
regiment and his officers, the public service may suf- 
fer; the Lieut. Col. has applied to be transferred from 
the command of Col. Hecker. 

(Signed) THOS. A. SCOTT, 

Acting Sec. of War." 

In accordance with the above decision, I am in- 
structed to direct you to restore the officers of 24th 
Ills. Vols., illegally displaced by Col. Hecker, and re- 
port to this office such further information as you may 
be able to obtain relating to the case, in order that the 
War Department may decide upon the claims for pay 
for the officers pro tempore. 

The papers in this case are respectfully returned. 
I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) GEO. D. RUGGLES, 

Asst, Adjt. Genl." 



PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 123 

Copy of Gen. Sherman's letter to Col. Hecker : 
"Louisville, Ky., Oct. 22, 1861. 
Col. Hecker, 

Commanding at Colesburg. 
Sir: 

Yours of Oct. 21st is received. I have now a per- 
fect list of charges against the various officers of your 
regiment, and it is impossible at this time to order 
court martial. I again appeal to your good sense to 
heal this breach. Call your officers together and see 
whether you can not act in harmony. It is reported 
that a pistol shot was fired at Major Kune. You ex- 
plain it, and I hope your explanation is sufficient to 
satisfy the major. It is wrong that so fine a body of 
men should be crippled by dissensions among the offi- 
cers at a time of imminent public danger. Again I 
say, these dissensions must be reconciled ; else I may 
be compelled to disband the whole, a thing I do not 
want to do. Yours, 

(Signed) W. T. SHERMAN, Brig. Genl." 

Before dismissing this, to me, distasteful subject, 
I shall give here a copy of a letter which was given 
me by Governor Yates and addressed to General John 
C. Fremont, at the inception of my troubles with Col. 
Hecker, which letter, however, I never delivered, as 
I did not wish to quit my regiment under the implica- 
tion that General Prentiss' order discharging me was 
in any sense legitimate and valid. 



124 EEMINISCENCES 

Copy of Gov. Yates' letter to Gen. Fremont : 

"State of Illinois, Sept. 2, 1861. 
Major General J. C. Fremont, 

Sir : I am desirous that Major Julian Kune, of the 
24th Regiment Ills. Volunteers, be permitted to leave 
his regiment to assist in the raising and formation of 
a new regiment in this state. We feel the lack of 
experienced military men in this state, and I am very 
anxious to be able to secure the services of Maj. Kune, 
and hope that you will give him the necessary leave 
for this purpose. 

Your attention to this will much oblige me. 
Very respectfully, 
(Signed) RICH'D YATES, Governor." 

I still have in my possession the original of the 
above letter, not wishing to deliver it while the struggle 
with my colonel was in progress, and by the time I 
had carried my point and had established my rights 
General Fremont had been replaced by General Hunter 
in the command of the Department of the West. I am 
willing to abide by the righteous judgment of those 
who may peruse the foregoing official papers, as to 
where should be placed the blame for this unfortunate 
affair. What I have written was not in a spirit of 
animosity, but simply in behalf of eternal justice! 



PART VI. 



JOINS THE BOARD OF TRADE 



After leaving the army I devoted myself to busi- 
ness, which I pursued with fair success on the Chicago 
Board of Trade, joining that institution in 1863, while 
John L, Hancock was its president. The Board met in 
the Newhouse building on South Water street. My 
business transactions during the interval between 1863 
and 1866 were fairly remunerative, with the exception 
of one contract which my partner had obtained from 
the government to furnish a certain quantity of oats 
to be delivered at Cairo, 111. The shipments were 
made in time, but, owing to some reasons, which had 
better be guessed at than stated, the Illinois Central 
Railroad company failed to move them forward and 
they were thus left on our hands when the war closed. 
As they could not be sold, carload after carload was 
dumped into the Mississippi river. 

Having always had a leaning towards literature, 
music and art, I spent my leisure hours in attending 
concerts, operas and lectures. At the solicitation of 
Lieutenant Governor Shuman, a friend of mine, who 
was the editor of the Chicago Evening Journal, I edited 
the musical part of the paper. It was while thus en- 
gaged during a number of years that I made the 
acquaintance of nearly all the celebrated concert and 
opera singers of that day. 

In the spring of 1865 Chicago celebrated the open- 
125 



126 EEMINISCENCES 

ing of its first temple of music in the inauguration of 
the Crosby Opera House, Mr. Jacob Grau specially- 
organizing an opera troupe for the occasion. The 
opera given was Verdi's "II Trovatore." I wonder 
whether this opera was ever given with better success 
than during that inauguration night. The artists of 
the troupe consisted of Mesdames Carozzi Zuchi, Clara 
Louise Kellogg and Morensi; Signori Massimiliani, 
Mazzolini, Lotti and Susini. 

Crosby's Opera House marked a new epoch in 
Chicago's musical history. Before its erection on 
Washington street, between Dearborn and State 
streets, musical entertainments were mostly given dur- 
ing the fifties in Metropolitan Hall, corner Randolph 
and La Salle streets. It was there that the youthful 
Adelina Patti, under the management of her brother- 
in-law, Maurice Strakosh, electrified Chicago's music 
lovers of that day. During the sixties Metropolitan 
Hall had to give way to the modernized Bryan Hall, 
where most of the famous artists appeared. There was 
also Farwell Hall, where Moody and Sanky held re- 
vival meetings; Hans Balatka, with his orchestra — 
the forerunner of the Thomas orchestra — gave many 
entertaining musical feasts in both Farwell and Metro- 
politan Halls. It will be noticed that the building of 
Crosby's Opera House was revolutionary. It was the 
first attempt of Chicago's music loving people to build 
a temple worthy of the rapidly growing metropolis of 
the West. The erection of this stately building was 
hailed with joy by the people of the whole northwest, 
for nothing like it had been attempted before west of 
New York and Philadelphia. 



JOINS THE BOARD OF TEADE 127 

Reading over the various accounts of the opening 
of this temple of music, we find that both oratory and 
poetry contributed their share in doing honor to their 
next kin, music. Also, that the inaugural ceremonies 
had to be postponed owing to the national bereave- 
ment (the assassination of Abraham Lincoln) April 
14, 1865. That the orator of the occasion was Geo. C. 
Bates, an eminent lawyer of this city, and the inaug- 
ural ode recited was from the pen of a Chicago bard, 
Mr. W. H. C. Hosmer. It was a gala night for Chicago 
and would have been more so had not the saddening 
national bereavement cast its shadow over the whole 
country. 

Of the numerous artists whom I had the pleasure 
of meeting and listening to during the period of my 
quasi position as musical critic, I can remember but 
a few whom I knew not only as artists but also as 
friends off the stage. Those who have gone through 
the experience of writing criticisms on the perform- 
ances of either dramatic or musical artists are aware 
that the vocation is not an enviable one. For the 
jealousy of the artist is so inherent in most of them 
that if the critic bestows a little more praise on the 
performance of one artist, the others of the troupe are 
up in arms against him. He must be just, though in- 
offensive ; he must praise the good points without 
needlessly laying bare the weak points of the artist 
Above all, the critic should be fearless of giving his 
opinions without cavil or favor. 

Through my intimate acquaintanceship with some 
of the impresarios, such as Jacob Grau, Max Strakosch 
and C. D. Hess, I came to know ofif the stage artists 



128 REMINISCENCES 

like Picolomini, Paulina Cannissa, Parepa Rosa, Min- 
nie Hauck, Susan Gallon, Caroline Richings, Salvini, 
Ristori, and a few others. 

The disastrous defeat of Austria in the Italian war 
of 1859, and the victory which Prussia won in 1866 
over Austria, at Koniggraetz and Sadowa, broke the 
chains which Austria had riveted around the neck of 
Hungary. We all knew, when we were driven into 
exile, that the time would come, sooner or later, when 
we would be permitted to revisit our native heath. 
The war between Prussia and Austria demonstrated 
to the latter that without the voluntary consent of the 
Hungarian nation the Austrian army was weak and 
easily crushed. Whole regiments of Hungarian troops 
refused to fight, and went over to the enemy. This 
resulted in the so-called "Ausgleich" (compromise) 
between Austria and Hungary, whereby the latter ob- 
tained every point, save independence, for which she 
fought in 1848-49, and for which we had been exiled 
and forbidden to revisit our country for eighteen years. 
A general amnesty was proclaimed, enabling all politi- 
cal exiles to return. The desire to revisit my native 
land seized me, which desire I was unable to satisfy 
until about 1869, just one year after the cholera had 
visited Chicago. Besides, through the influence of my 
friends, Messrs. Wm. B. Ogden, Jonathan Young 
Scammon, and some others, the city council elected 
me South Side city assessor, which office I held during 
the cholera year. 

In 1869 for the first time in twenty years I visited 
my native country. The feelings which I experienced 
on beholding the vine-clad hills of Buda are indescrib- 



FIRST HOME VISIT 129 

able. It seemed as if I had been suddenly dropped 
from one existence into another dreamland. Gradually 
things became more familiar, and I soon accommo- 
dated myself to my new- surroundings. 

FIRST HOME VISIT IN TWENTY YEARS 

During this first visit I met my old Chicago friend, 
Joseph Breck, who in 1855 was the tutor of Mr. J. 
Young Scammon's son. He, too, availed himself of 
the amnesty and returned to Hungary, to his native 
county, where he was elected to the Hungarian Diet. 
He subsequently was elected Fo Ispan, the highest 
executive office in the county, and while accompanying 
(in 1879) King Francis Joseph on his tour to ex- 
amine the distress occasioned by the floods, which 
nearly wiped out Szegedin and other cities adjacent to 
the river Tisza, he was thrown from his carriage 
(drawn by spirited horses, who took fright), subse- 
quently dying of his injuries. 

I have made several visits to Europe subsequent 
to my first to Hungary. I have met many persons, 
both in Budapest and Vienna, distinguished in art, 
music and statesmanship. Of authors I remember with 
great pleasure the celebrated traveler, Mr. Armenius 
Vambery, who, disguished as a dervish, traveled all 
over Bokhara, Khiva and Samarkand in 1864 and 1865. 
He is the author of various valuable works treating on 
his travels, and various Oriental languages. He also 
wrote a very interesting work on Russia's aggressive 
and encroaching policy in Central Asia. I repeatedly 
met him at the dinner table in a modest restaurant at 
Pest. He had just returned from his extensive tour in 



130 KEMINISCENCES 

Persia, so that his conversation was replete with most 
interesting incidents of his travels. He occupied the 
chair of Professor of Oriental Languages at the Uni- 
versity of Pest at the time I met him. The next per- 
son of prominence I met during my visit to Pest was 
Francis Pulsky. He was then a member of the Diet, 
and worked in harmonj^ with Deak, the eminent states- 
man. He was an ardent follower of Kossuth, and 
came with him to the United States in 1851. He also, 
like Kossuth, was condemned to death by the Austrian 
government, but was included in the general amnesty 
after Austria's crushing defeat by Prussia in 1866. 
Both Pulsky and his wife, Madame Pulsky, are well 
remembered by old timers of New York and Boston. 
I must not omit mentioning my meeting Mr. Joseph 
Pulitzer, then of the St. Louis Post and Dispatch, 
while both of us made a call on Mr. Hazman, then 
the mayor of Buda. If I remember rightly, Mr. Pulit- 
zer was a member of the Missouri legislature at the 
time I met him at Buda. I also met Colonel Tur, 
whom I had known while both of us were living a& 
exiles in London. Col. Tur had one of the most 
romantic careers. After being exiled, he went to Lon- 
don, where he stayed but a short time before going to 
France, where subsequently he became acquainted 
with Ferdinand de Lesseps, of Suez Canal fame, whom 
he assisted in the digging of the canal. Having a fine 
personality, he soon found favor at the court of Napo- 
leon HL Empress Eugenie, whose special favorite he 
became, brought about his marriage to one of her 
favorite court ladies. Prior to the breaking out of the 
war between Prussia and France, General Tur, as he 



MEETING ARTISTS 131 

was then known, was entrusted with a private mission 
to Bismarck, before the final breaking off of negotia- 
tions. After the fall of the Second Empire he returned 
to Hungary, where he was employed by the govern- 
ment in his capacity as civil engineer in regulating the 
courses of the various rivers and in the digging of 
canals. 

During my visits to Budapest, Count Andrassy was 
at the helm of the Hungarian government, and Fran- 
cis Deak was the power behind the throne. Francis 
Deak was one of the strongest characters in Hungary's 
history. During the first period of the Hungarian rev- 
olution he was minister of justice, but when Hungary 
had declared its independence, Deak laid down his 
portfolio and refused to follow Kossuth in his extreme 
radicalism. Lawyer as he was, he believed in regain- 
ing Hungary's constitutional rights legally, and as a 
member of the Austrian Empire. It is, however, a 
mooted question whether his Utopian expectations 
would ever have been realized had it not been for Aus- 
tria's disastrous defeat by Napoleon in the Italian war 
of 1859, and the great defeat at Koniggraetz and 
Sadowa in 1866 by Prussia. 

MEETING ARTISTS 

Of great artists during my visits to the European 
continent I may mention Anton Rubinstein, the great 
Russian composer and pianist. It was fortunate for 
the music-loving public of the United States that I 
happened to be in Vienna while Jacob Grau, the im- 
presario, was negotiating with Rubinstein about his 
engagement for a tour in this country. In the midst 



13;e REMINISCENCES 

of the negotiations, before the signing of the contract, 
Mr. Grau had a stroke of paralysis, which completely 
incapacitated him from doing any business whatsoever. 
In fact, he lost his power of speech, which he never 
regained. I took up the thread of these negotiations 
and brought them to a satisfactory close, both with 
Mr. Rubinstein and Winiawski, the famous Polish 
violinist. 

During that very same year (1872) I had the pleas- 
ure of listening to the performance of these artists at 
Aikin's Opera House on Wabash Avenue, the only 
hall available then in burnt-down Chicago. 

During my frequent visits to Mr. Rubinstein's 
apartments in Vienna I had the opportunity of appre- 
ciating his value as a man, husband and father, as 
well as an artist. He frequently led the orchestra in 
concerts given by the Wiener Maenner Gesang 
Freunde. On one occasion, while, he was wielding the 
baton the great Franz Liszt was presiding at the organ 
in the Wiener Allegemeine Musikhalle. 

My list would be incomplete were I to omit Etelka 
Gerster, the famous Hungarian prima donna, whom I 
first met in Budapest while residing with her brother- 
in-law, Mr. I. S. Kauser, the American consul in that 
city. I often had the pleasure of listening to her 
remarkable flute-like voice long before she appeared 
in public. In 1879 she electrified the Chicago musical 
public in several concerts given at Farwell Hall. She 
also appeared in grand opera. Not long ago she vis- 
ited her brother, who is a leading physician in New 
York. 

Of statesmen, both American and European, I had 



PERIODICAL VISITS TO BUDAPEST 133 

occasion to meet many, but most of them during the 
Franco-Prussian war in 1870, and some years follow- 
ing. I will refer to them in the order I met them. 

PERIODICAL VISITS TO BUDAPEST 

During the summer of 1870 I made my annual visit 
to Budapest, and as above stated, I spent much of my 
time with Mr. Kauser the American consul. I should 
state here that Mr. Kauser, although a native of Hun- 
gary, had for several years resided in New York and 
became naturalized. 

While in the consul's yard watching the laying 
down of the Nicholson pavement as an experiment, 
the consular clerk brought out to me a cablegram of 
the following purport: "Julian Kune, care American 
consul. Pest, Hungary. Go to siege of Paris. Answer. 
Paid. White." This was an entirely unexpected turn 
in my plans. I had intended to visit Russia, but as 
Mr. Horace White, a friend whom I highly esteemed, 
was then the editor-in-chief of the Chicago "Tribune," 
I took his suggestion as an order. Besides, the ardent 
military spirit of my youthful days was rekindled, so 
I immediately accepted the position of war correspon- 
dent. I had been for years the correspondent of the 
"Tribune" from various points I visited during my 
travels in Europe, so it was not a new thing to me. 

I at once bade my friend, Mr. Kauser, good bye and 
left the same night of the day I received the cable for 
Berlin. Arrived at Berlin, I at once called on my old 
friend, Henry Kreisman, the United States consul gen- 
eral, through whose kindly introduction to a local 
banker I was enabled to replenish my exchequer, as I 



134 REMINISCENCES 

knew that a war correspondent has to spend money 
quite freely. Speaking of Mr. Kreisman, my Chicago 
old-time friends will remember him as a progressive 
German citizen. In the fifties he had been elected 
city clerk during John C. Haines' administration, and 
during 1860 was secretary to the Republican National 
Committee, of which N. B. Judd was chairman. After 
Lincoln's election he was appointed secretary of lega- 
tion to Ambassador N. B. Judd at Berlin. On Mr. 
Judd's return to this country Mr. Kreisman was ap- 
pointed consul general at Berlin, which position he 
creditably filled for several years. He visited this 
country only once since 1870, and that was in 1881 
with Henry Villard, the one-time newspaper reporter 
and afterwards the president of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. 

It took me longer to get my passport vised, and 
obtain the necessary permit from the Berlin military 
authorities, to follow the advancing German army, 
than I had supposed. At one time it seemed to me 
as if the authorities were disposed to oppose my join- 
ing the army, but thanks to the influence exerted in 
my behalf by Mr. George Bancroft, our ambassador 
at Berlin, and Mr. Kreisman, the permit was granted 
to me in the following brief rescript : 

"Alle civil und militarbehorden werden hierdurch 
ersucht dem Vorzeiger Dieses, Herrn Julian Kune, 
Schiitze und Hiilfe zu leisten. Berlin, den 12ten Sep- 
tember, 1870. (Signed) V. S. WINDT, Major." The 
translation of which is : "All civil and military author- 
ities are herewith requested to extend all protection 
and aid to the bearer of this, Mr. Julian Kune." The 



FOE THE SEAT OF WAR 135 

seal of the chief general staff of the King's army was 
attached to this precious document, that would open 
to me the forbidden path leading to the King's head- 
quarters, wherever that might be. Armed with all 
necessary documents I left Berlin on the 17th of 
September 

FOR THE SEAT OF WAR 

The distance from Berlin to Cologne is about 74 
German miles, which, during the Franco-Prussian war, 
was made in about ten hours, which was fairly good 
time in those days for German railroads to make. At 
Cologne I had to change cars for Lebramont, Belgium, 
which I reached in about eight hours. At Lebramont 
ended my further progress by rail. Fortunately, just 
before reaching Madgeburg I made the acquaintance 
of a gentleman traveling in the same compartment 
with myself, who was an official of the Prussian gen- 
eral post-office department, and who was on his way 
to the army before Paris, for the purpose of establish- 
ing mail communications between Berlin and the 
King's headquarters before Paris. The new route was 
to be via Belgium to Sedan, then via Rheims, Cha- 
teaux Thiery, Epernay and Meaux. It took five days 
for the transit of mail between Berlin and Paris via 
Saarbruecken, Pont Mousson and Nancy, via the old 
route. 

As fast as the German army advanced towards 
Paris the post-office department closely followed it. 
And no sooner was a French city or town taken pos- 
session of by the German troops when Prussian post- 
office officials took charge of the post-office of such 



136 EEMINISCENCES 

city or town and made prompt connections with the 
post-office department at Berlin. 

TRIP THROUGH BELGIUM 

As mentioned above, I was fortunate in making the 
acquaintance of this post-office official, as I doubt 
whether, without his assistance, I could have reached 
the King's headquarters. Being a government official 
he requisitioned conveyances from time to time, and 
he invited me to share the necessary expenses with 
him, for he invariably paid cash for every mile over 
which the requisitioned conveyance took us. 

At Lebramont, Belgium, my post-office friend and 
myself started to engage a chaise to take us to the 
next station, Bouillon, but the owner of the chaise 
asked such an exorbitant price that we refused to pay 
it, but availed ourselves of the offer of a Johanniter 
(a kind of a Red Cross representative) to whom we 
showed our papers, to use his chaise. The driver was 
a Belgian cavalry soldier, and he drove at such a 
breakneck pace that we were in constant danger of 
being overturned. The road ran all along the Ar- 
dennes, up and down hill, and the scenery was most 
picturesque. The horses we had were captured French 
horses, which the Prussian military authorities fur- 
nished to the Belgians for the purpose of transporting 
the wounded to the designated hospitals. On the road 
we met scores of French cuirassiers, guarded by Bel- 
gian frontier artillerymen, on their way to various 
places where they were to be confined during the dura- 
tion of the war. Belgium, which had been the buffer 



TBIP THEOUGH BELGIUM 137 

State between Germany and France, was compelled to 
strictly observe the laws of neutrality. 

After a three hours' drive we arrived at Bouillon, 
which^ was a very dirty town. Its narrow streets re- 
minded me very much of the towns and cities of Syria 
and Palestine. The place was filled to overflowing 
with the wounded of the battle of Sedan. We could 
find no shelter for the night. At one place I asked 
permission to occupy the kitchen floor, but it was 
refused to me. Finally, after hours of searching, we 
found a place where a Belgian physician was going to 
vacate his room. This disciple of Aesculapius, al- 
though a pretended French sympathizer, showed us 
many gruesome and revolting remembrances, which 
he had picked up on the Sedan battlefield. He im- 
pressed me as a human vampire who evidently pil- 
fered and robbed the dead and dying. 

As the landlord was a sympathizer with the French 
he fed us on many false and apocryphal stories, one of 
which was that 10,CX)0 Prussians were blown up at 
Paris ; that Paris was sufficiently provisioned to stand 
a siege of a year or more. What we would have pre- 
ferred was to satisfy our hunger, but all we could get 
was a stale loaf of bread, on which we had to make 
our supper. Before cutting the loaf of bread, however, 
the host made the sign of the cross on it, which he 
thought would be sufficient to satisfy our hunger. 

The following day, Monday the 19th, we left Bouil- 
lon at 7 a. m., by diligence for Sedan. We had for 
fellow passengers two gentlemen and three ladies, one 
of whom was an old Irish lady who was in search of 
her son, who had been wounded at Sedan. She had 



138 BEMINISCENCE8 

married a Frenchman, and they were residing in 
France, and of course her sympathies were strongly 
pro-French. Indeed, she showed her antipathy against 
the Germans to a ridiculous point; for every time we 
passed a German flag she turned her head away from 
it in disgust. She was frank enough to tell me that 
during our Civil War her sympathies were with the 
South, to which I simply replied that, considering the 
final outcome of that war, it did not make much differ- 
ence on which side her sympathies were. Her hus- 
band, the old gentleman, while we were ascending a 
hill together on foot, solemnly assured me that Prussia 
would have to take possession of the whole of France 
in order to keep it by military force ; that according to 
the last bulletin issued by the Secretary of War, Le 
Boeff, France had two million chassepots, etc. Never- 
theless, when the Germans took charge of the French 
war materials at the capitulation of Paris, there were 
but 25,000 chassepots to be found. There was also a 
young mademoiselle who was in search of her fiancee, 
an officer in a Turco regiment. The German army 
showed great liberality in aiding their foes to find 
their friends, dead or alive. 

As we reached the frontier, the French refugees 
increased in numbers, for a great many French sol- 
diers preferred to become refugees in Belgium to be- 
ing taken prisoners and being sent to Germany. The 
scenery at the frontier, especially at La Chapelle, is 
grand beyond description, but, alas, who could admire 
it while on every side were visible the harrowing signs 
of the late struggle. At Givonne, some eight kilo- 
metres from Sedan, there was hardly a house left un- 



SEDAN 139 

touched by the death-dealing and house-demolishing 
cannon balls. Between Givonne and Digni the ground 
was literally covered by thousands of knapsacks, 
haversacks and broken up arms. Near Digni a freak 
of fate showed itself by leaving a tannery which was 
situated in a deep valley, and in the center of the 
fiercely raging battle untouched. The rain of bullets 
passed from hill to hill, leaving the factory building 
unharmed. 

The owner of this tannery became very rich 
through the thousands of dead and disabled horses 
which he picked up on the battlefield and turned into 
leather. 

From La Chapelle, ascending the summit of a hill, 
the suburbs of Sedan became visible. These were 
still in possession of the Red Cross attendants, and the 
wounded, which filled nearly every house to overflow- 
ing. Everywhere, in whatever direction you may turn 
the eyes, were ambulances and broken up wagons that 
block the passageways of the streets. 

SEDAN 

Although an unimportant little city before the 
Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Sedan has become world- 
wide famous as the place where Emperor Napoleon 
surrendered his army of 83,000 men of the rank and 
file, 39 Generals, 230 Staff Officers, 2,600 Officers, all 
of whom including the Emperor and his active Com- 
mander-in-chief, Marshall McMahon, became prisoners 
of war. In order to convey to my readers the great 
magnitude of this almost unparalleled defeat and sur- 



140 REMINISCENCES 

render, I will give here some data which I obtained 
later at Versailles from official sources. 

After the diastrous battles at Weissenburg, Saar- 
bruecken, Woerth and Gravelot, McMahon had still 
150,000 men in his command. He lost during the 
battle of Beaumont 25,000, and at Sedan 25,000 men, 
who were taken prisoner, and 83,000 who surrendered 
at the capitulation. There were besides 44,000 men 
wounded, while about 3,000 escaped to Belgium, This, 
with the 4,000 officers and over 50 Generals, would 
make the total loss of 150,000 men at the battles of 
Beaumont and Sedan, — an appalling loss, and one un- 
paralleled in modern warfare. Besides the loss in men, 
the loss in war materials was equally stupendous. 
They consisted of 400 cannons, including 70 Mitrail- 
leuse, 100 heavy ordnance guns, 10,000 horses and a 
vast quantity of ammunition, besides foodstuffs. 

Sedan is in the department of the Ardennes, and it 
is situated on the right bank of the river Meuse (Ger- 
man Maas) and about thirteen miles Southeast of 
Mezier by railway and about the same distance from 
Thionville. It is surrounded by hills of an average 
height of about 1,000 feet. It has a fortress, which 
proved to be the pitfall into which the French army 
was lured on that fatal day of September 1st, 1870. It 
passes the understanding of even a tyro in military 
tactics how an army of 150,000 fighting men, led by 
old veterans like McMahon and Bazain, could have 
been lured into such a trap as they were caught in. 

After I had met Gen. Sheridan at Versailles, the 
General, who was present at the battle of Sedan, told 
me that French bad generalship caused the capitula- 



SEDAN 141 

tion of Sedan. The French rank and file fought as 
bravely as any troops he ever saw on the field of battle. 
He had never seen a more heroic stand than was made 
by the French marines at Bazeilles under Martin des 
Pelliers, where thousands of Germans fell as victims 
to French heroism. A museum and a monument have 
been erected at Bazeilles in memory of the heroism 
displayed by the French marines. 

General Sheridan further told me that if the French 
army had had as good tacticians to lead them as the 
Germans had, the outcome of the war would have 
been different. His observations, during the various 
battles in which he took part as a guest of the Ger- 
man arm.y, commanded respect among the higher offi- 
cers. So, for instance, at the battle of Sedan, while 
the General, accompanied by General Forsythe, was 
watching the course of the raging battle, and saw the 
German tirailleurs advancing up the hill against the 
heavy French columns, he remarked to those standing 
around him : "The poor devils, they are too weak ; they 
never can gain that position in the face of all those 
French." And sure enough, only a few moments later 
they were compelled to retreat and to seek support. 
A little later, when the same tirailleurs, after getting 
support, advanced once more, it was Gen. Sheridan 
who first saw the danger of their being overwhelmed 
by the advancing French cuirassiers. He had hardly 
spoken the words : "O, heavens, the French cuirassiers 
will storm them," when the heavy phalanx of French 
cavalry, like an avalanche, moved upon the Prussian 
sharpshooters. The latter, however, without forming a 
line, received the onslaught with a well-directed fire at 



142 REMINISCENCES 

a distance of about 300 feet, that brought down both 
horse and man by the hundreds. 

Although several days had elapsed since the battle 
was fought, all the dead had not yet been removed 
and buried. Soldiers were engaged in fishing out the 
French cuirassiers and their horses, who filled the 
Meuse, which runs through the city. The railroad sta- 
tion, which had been converted into a Lazaret (Hos- 
pital) was still filled with the wounded and dying. 
The town was also filled to overflowing with French 
prisoners, waiting to be transported to various parts of 
Germany, which, considering that all railroad communi- 
cation was still at a standstill, was rather a slow pro- 
ceeding. Scores of disabled locomotive engines and 
cars were standing on the track towards Meziers, All 
along the shores of the river Meuse were freshly made 
graves and burnt-down houses seen. It was difficult to 
tell which of the numerous graves marked by little white 
crosses contained the remains of French or of German 
soldiers. What a mockery this material existence is after 
all; here were thousands of dead lying peacefully in 
eternal sleep, who for all we know, had never met before 
and who individually never entertained any ill feeling 
against each other; it was a sad spectacle. I had seen 
somewhat of the dire effects of war, during former wars, 
but the desolation and the cruel effects of warfare as 
seen at Sedan surpassed anything I had witnessed. I 
was very glad to leave the desolate town after a stay 
of but a few hours, in pursuit of the army of the South 
in command of "Unser Fritz." 

On leaving Sedan, on the 19th of September, at 11 
A. M., in a diligence, with requisitioned horses (for it 



SEDAN 143 

should be remembered that my traveling companion 
was still the Postoffice Official) we espied to the right, 
about one mile from Sedan, the beautiful Chateau 
Bellevue, where Napoleon met the King of Prussia and 
surrendered to him his sword. We next passed Don- 
chery, where Napoleon came to interview Bismarck 
anent the capitulation. They met in a small house be- 
longing to a weaver. Dr. Moritz Busch, Bismarck's 
Secretary, whom I subsequently met very often at 
Versailles, gave me the following account of that meet- 
ing between Napoleon and Bismarck : 



PART VII. 

THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

But before entering into this narrative, I will briefly 
relate the immediate cause of the Franco-Prussian 
War, as related to me by Dr. Bush. 

"After Spain had gone through the short experience 
of a Republican government, they decided to try a 
monarchy once more, and accordingly called Prince 
Leopold of the Hohenzollern family to the throne. That 
caused the greatest excitement in the Napoleonic circles 
and regime. The young prince, without consulting the 
head of the dynasty, the King of Prussia, accepted the 
offer. King Wilhelm, however, as well as his Chan- 
cellor, Count Bismarck, was not in favor of a Hohen- 
zollern ascending the Spanish throne. His ambition 
lay in a different direction — the unification of the vari- 
ous German petty states into one united German Em- 
pire. On the 4th of July, 1870, the Duke de Grammont 
directed the French Ambassador at Berlin to go to 
Emms, a watering place in Germany, where the King 
of Prussia was visiting the Emperor of Russia, to ask 
the King to direct Prince Leopold to withdraw his ac- 
ceptance; for in case of refusal of this request, war 
would follow. On July 9th, Benedetti appeared before 
the King and asked him to re-establish quiet in 
Europe. The King answered that he in no wise en- 
couraged Leopold's candidacy, and that he (Benedetti) 

144 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 145 

should go to Madrid with his protest. On the 10th, 
Benedetti repeated his demand, and on the 12th came 
the report that Leopold had withdrawn his former ac- 
ceptance. This should have satisfied the French, but 
the Duke of Grammont (probably instigated by Na- 
poleon, or the ambitious Empress Eugenie) asked still 
further guarantees of the King, and he asked that the 
King should apologize to the Emperor, and give writ- 
ten guarantee that the Prince would not accept again. 
The King of course refused to accede to this humili- 
ating demand, but Benedetti, unabashed, went up to 
the King as the latter was taking the train for Coblenz 
and asked to speak to him ; whereupon the King curtly 
said to him that he had nothing more to say to him. 
It seemed that Benedetti fully expected this denoue- 
ment, because his master, Napoleon, picked up the 
Spanish affair merely as a pretext to get up a quarrel." 
The King left the watering place July 15th, two 
weeks sooner than he intended. As he was to take the 
train, a large crowd of people gathered at the station 
to bid him good-bye, when he addressed them : "I 
hope to see you again. God is my witness that I do 
not want war, but if I should be compelled to wage 
war, I shall defend Germany's honor to the last man." 

On the 19th of July, the French Ambassador de- 
livered to Count Bismarck the formal declaration of 
war. 

The French people completely lost their heads. 
After Sedan, Napoleon declared that he did not want 
the war, but that the French people fairly drove him 
into it. Judging from the way they acted after war 
had been declared, there must have been some truth in 



146 KEMINISCENCES 

Napoleon's assertion. They walked the streets singing 
impromptu : "We eat breakfast at Cologne, dine in 
Berlin, and eat our supper at Konigsberg." Immedi- 
ately the French army was placed on a war footing, 
and the one commanded by McMahon named "The 
Army of the Rhine," which however, never saw the 
Rhine. Napoleon hurried to Metz on the 28th of July, 
only nine days after he declared war again Prussia, 
taking with him his son and a vast amount of luggage, 
just as if he were going to a dress parade. 

The Germans, on the other hand, on August 7, 
1870, quietly formed three army corps: The army of 
the South, commanded by "Unser Fritz," the Crown 
Prince, Frederick William ; the second army com- 
manded by the "Red Prince," Friederich Carl, cousin 
of the Crown Prince; while one army, the first, was 
commanded by General v. Steinmetz. The King as- 
sumed the supreme command, with von Moltke as 
Chief of Stafif, On the 5th of August the battle of 
Weissenburg was fought; on the 6th the battle of 
Worth took place; and the battles of Saarbruecken, 
Metz, Mars La Tour, Gravelot and Sedan had been 
fought, in every one of which the French had been de- 
feated, and all these world-stirring events took place 
within the short time of six weeks, a feat never before 
equaled in the history of wars. 

But to resume the narrative of the incidents con- 
nected with the capitulation of the French army under 
Napoleon, as given by Dr. Bush, private secretary to 
Bismarck: 

"After the fate of the entrapped French army in 
Sedan had been sealed by the uniting of the Prussian 



THE FEANCO-PEUSSIAN WAR 147 

and Saxon regiments, which formed almost a complete 
circle around Sedan, the battle, although fierce in the 
extreme, suddenly ceased at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. 
Five minutes later a French officer, escorted by two 
Uhlans, appeared at a sharp trot ascending the hill 
from Sedan. One of the escorting Uhlans had a white 
handkerchief tied to a stick. Arrived at the King's 
Headquarters, which was at the village of Vendresse 
on a hill, the officer alighted and asked to be informed 
on what conditions the capitulation of Sedan with its 
army would be accepted. After a short consultation 
between the King and von Moltke, he was informed 
that in a matter of such importance it would require 
an officer of high rank to negotiate with. He was told 
to return to Sedan and to inform the Governor of 
Sedan to appear at once before the King of Prussia, 
and should he not be there within three-quarters of an 
hour, the battle would be at once resumed. There 
would be no conditions given, — "an unconditional sur- 
render is demanded." 

The officer rode back, but at about 6:30 P. M., a 
loud hurrahing was heard, with the interjection : "The 
Emperor is here." Ten minutes later General Reille 
presented himself with a letter from Napoleon, ad- 
dressed to the King. As soon as the French General 
was seen coming, a double line of cuirassiers and 
dragoons formed itself behind the King. In front of 
this line stood the members of the general staff, and 
ten paces ahead was the King himself, ready to receive 
the General, who placed the Emperor's letter in the 
former's hands. The letter consisted of the following : 
"As it was not destined for me to die at the head of 



148 EEMINISCENCES 

my troops, I surrender my sword into the hands of 
your Majesty." ("N'ayant pas pu mourir a la tete de 
mes troupe je depose mon epee a votre Majeste.") 

After a short consultation with Bismarck, von 
Moltke and von Roon, who had meanwhile joined the 
King's followers, the latter took his seat on the straw 
seat of a stool, while two adjutants improvised a table 
by holding up in front of him another stool, whereon 
he wrote to the Emperor a request to repair to Ven- 
dresse, the King's headquarters, on the following 
morning. Then he gave this letter personally to Gen- 
eral Reille. 

On the following morning the King and the Em- 
peror met at Villa Bellvue. The conference lasted but 
15 minutes. Both King and Emperor were deeply 
moved, as may be inferred from the closing sentence 
of the letter which King William wrote to Konigin 
Augusta, describing the capitulation of Sedan and the 
surrender of the army : "We were both greatly moved 
over thus meeting again." "It is impossible for me to 
describe to you my feelings, when I remembered that 
only three years have passed away since I saw Na- 
poleon at the zenith oi his power." 

The negotiations for the capitulation were carried 
on, as previously stated, at Doncherry, in a weaver's 
house, where Napoleon first met Bismarck. The Iron 
Chancellor afterwards confessed that the interview 
was anything but pleasant to him. He said that while 
waiting for Moltke, von Roon and General Wimpfen 
to close the negotiations for the surrender of the army, 
he sat alone with Napoleon in the humble weaver's 
room, and he felt like the young man at a ball, who 



FEOM SEDAN TO MEAUX 149 

had engaged a girl for the cotillion, had not a word to 
say to her, and heartily wished that someone would 
take her away. 

I was in Berlin a few days after the surrender at 
Sedan, and while looking at the material composing 
the German army, I could easily comprehend the cause 
of the collapse of the French armies, that were op- 
posed to the German soldiers. There were 200,000 men 
of the reserve corps around Berlin waiting for march- 
ing orders, and as I watched regiment after regiment 
march along with elastic step, I did not wonder any 
longer at the signal success their comrades in the field 
had already attained. French elan was no match for 
German stolidity and determination. "It was an army 
of Spartans with spectacles on their noses." 

I could plainly see the German victory before me, in 
the quiet but determined talk of the Berliners. From 
the King down to the street sweeper, they were all 
ready to sacrifice life if need be. A good illustration 
of the King's patriotism was current at the time in 
Berlin. A very wealthy Berliner, who had an only 
son, petitioned the King to have him exempted from 
military service after having been drafted, — to which 
the King replied that he too had an only son, and that 
not only his son, but he himself, had to go to save the 
Fatherland. The Minister of War, von Roon, had one 
son killed and one wounded. 

FROM SEDAN TO MEAUX 

To resume my itinerary from Sedan to Meaux, 
where the King's headquarters was said to be. We 
reached Poix, and here we went to an Auberge (Inn) 



150 BEMINI8CENCES 

where a woman was the proprietress. She could give 
us nothing to satisfy our hunger; she was a perfect 
actress — she complained that only very recently she 
had 150 soldiers billetted on her, and never got a sou. 
She didn't care whether France was a Republic or an 
Empire, if only the potatoes would be left to them. 
She thought that all people (with a side glance at us) 
would be better off in their own country. 

Shaking the dust of this inhospitable place off our 
feet, we left it, after stopping an hour to feed our 
horses. The scenery around Poix continued to be fine. 
As one reaches the summit of a hill, the view extends 
for miles around. An abandoned railroad, with a great 
number of cars laying idly around, was discerned in 
the distance. This reminds me to record here an opin- 
ion to the effect that the German soldiers were not as 
good at railroad repairing as they were at fighting. 
They were unlike our boys during the Civil War, who, 
the minute a railroad was reached and an old engine 
with any kind of rolling stock was scared up, managed 
to open transportation by rail. In talking this matter 
over with General Sheridan, he fully agreed with me. 
The battle at Saarbruecken had been fought over a 
month ago, and still the railroads to Pont a Musson 
and Nancy were in such a chaotic state that they could 
not carry passengers. The railroad through the whole 
of the Marne valley showed but little damage. The 
greatest damage was caused by the unnecessary de- 
struction of bridges. At Lagni alone the destruction 
of two bridges (one a suspension bridge) must have 
caused a loss of at least 2,000,000 francs. This de- 
stroying bridges in modern warfare is a waste of time 



THE MAN WHO DISLIKED NEW YOKK 151 

"Perhaps there is something in that," I admitted. "Why 
don't you yearn for the Pacific Coast?" 

"Because I don't wish to change atmosphere entirely. 
I cHng to the things for which the East stands, the older 
culture, the peace of settled things. You think I'm para- 
doxical?" 

"Well, your two sentiments don't quite agree." 

"You see, my idea is this. I don't care for the mere 
crudities that spring from newness. I wish to live where 
the lessons of the past are accepted but where new points 
of view are permissible." 

"I really believe," I protested, "that you will find just 
as much of the past in California as in New York and 
just as much future in the East as in the West. The 
goods are the same, but they are wrapped in differently 
appearing packages." 

"You wouldn't say that," argued Rantoul, "if you had 
lived in New York. But, leave out comparisons — tell 
me about Chicago. Is a man permitted to think for him- 
self — if he wins? Will success justify him?" 

"It certainly will. I think that is the best and worst of 
Chicago in one phrase." 

"That's the place for which I'm looking. I may prove 
a failure, but I'm starving for a chance to prove something 
except the law of average. Let me tell you about the 
case that brought me my partnership offer and capped 
my growing distaste for New York. I had a fairly im- 
portant argument assigned to me. The points had been 
thoroughly briefed by a clerk under the direction of the 
senior member. The argument was assigned to me for 



152 REMINISCENCES 

story we heard all over the route we came: "Les 
Prussiens ont prit tout ce que nos aviont." ("The 
Prussians have taken all we had.") No patriotic 
Frenchman could be made to believe that it was not 
the Prussians, but the Wuertenbergers and the Sax- 
ons, who were their unwelcome guests. All Germans 
were to them Prussians. It reminded me of the early- 
days in Chicago, when every foreigner, whether Ger- 
man, French, or Hungarian, was designated by the uni- 
versal patronymic of "Dutchman." 

It is true that the country we had traversed from 
Sedan to Langi looked desolate and changed in ap- 
pearance since only a year before I crossed it by rail 
from Paris to Brussels. There was hardly a town that 
escaped more or less damage. For the sake of the 
Truth, I must say that the discipline of the Wuerten- 
bergers was slack and uncontrolable, while that of the 
Prussians was exemplary. 

The whole region between Sedan and Lagni, which 
we had traversed, had the aspect of having been de- 
populated by some sudden catastrophe. Neither young 
men nor young women were visible. We could ac- 
count for the absence of the young men, they having 
been claimed by the army, but we could not explain 
why the young women should have abandoned their 
homes. This feature connected with the Franco-Prus- 
sian War could be explained only on the hypothesis 
that the French looked upon the invaders of their 
country as being no less barbarous than the Tartars 
were under Ghenges Khan or Tamerlane. My land- 
lord in Versailles, a very intelligent member of the 
French bar, after asking him the reason for his family's 



WALK TO FEEEIER 153 

departure for the South of France, and leaving him to 
take care of his house and home, confided to me that 
the women were afraid of the Prussians. One thing, 
however, was noticeable, that the towns occupied by 
the Wuertenbergers showed plain evidence of having 
been pillaged, while those occupied by the Prussians, 
Saxons and Badenese bore hardly any signs of being 
roughly used or the inhabitants maltreated. 

Lagni had, prior to the invasion, a population of 
about 4,000, consisting mostly of wealthy Parisians, 
who owned Villas there, and spent the hot summer 
months in that place. After having retired for the 
night, a fire broke out in the immediate neighborhood 
of my hotel. The fire was traced to some Wuerten- 
berger soldiers, who imbibing too liberally of the wine 
they found in the cellars, started to burn up the town. 
Fortunately the French population had melted down to 
only about 300, mostly men, so that there was no 
casualty before the patrol guards promptly extin- 
guished the fire and arrested some of the malefactors. 
To the shame of the Wuertenberger officers I must 
say that their behavior was not any better than that of 
their soldiers. I witnessed myself a scene which made 
by blood boil. A score of these Wuertenberger offi- 
cers, after having been served with dinner and all the 
wine they could consume, refused to pay, and simply 
laughed in the face of the cashier, who was a young 
French woman. "Oh," she burst out, "if I were a man 
I would show my countrymen how to fight." 

WALK TO FERRIER 

On the following morning after my arrival, I walked 
over to Ferrier, about 9 kilometers distant, where I 



154 EEMINISCENCES 

had to go to Col. von Verdy of the general staff to 
obtain from him permission to remain within the lines 
of the King's army. It was not such an easy matter 
to reach that important individual. As I approached 
the main gate of the extensive Park in which Baron 
Rothschild's castle stands, a civilian whom I took to be 
a Frenchman asked me in French where I was going. 
On answering him in german that I would like to find 
the kanzlei (office) of the general staff. He politely 
requested me to show him my legitimations papier e 
(papers of identification). After examining them, he 
directed me to take a side path towards the building, 
but before I had progressed twenty feet I was once 
more accosted in German by a well dressed gentleman, 
who asked me whom I wished to see. After telling 
him, he led me to the door of the general staff office, 
where I was taken charge of by an orderly, who led 
me into the private office of Col. von Verdy, to whom 
I delivered a letter from Mr. Henry Kreisman, who 
knew him personally. The Colonel received me most 
kindly, and assured me that I would be afforded all 
possible facilities within the lines of the army of the 
Crown Prince to observe and to report all its move- 
ments to the Chicago Tribune by mail only; and if I 
wished to send anything by cable, I would have to sub- 
mit it to the military censor, who would decide whether 
the interests of the service would permit its being sent. 
The Colonel thereupon had made out the permit, which 
he signed, and which would be the open sesame that 
would give me access to all the military cantonments 
of the besieging army. 



Grosses Haupt-Quartier cn^^^ ^W^^'^.^ >/«^ S/ '^^-^^^^^ /■y/o. 

Chef des Generalslabes 
cU'i* Armof. 




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COPY OF THE ROYAL PERMIT 155 

COPY OF THE ROYAL PERMIT 

H. Q. Ferrieres, September 21, 1870. 
Grosses Haupt-Quartier 
Seiner Majestat des Konigs 

Chef des General stabes der Armee. 
Dem Vorzeiger dieses, Herrn Julian Kune ist es 
gestattet, sich im Bereiche der operirenden Armee auf- 
zuhalten. 

Alle Behorde werden ersucht demselben dabei keine 
Schwierikeien in den weg zu legen. 

Von Seiten des General Quartiermeister. 
(Signed) V, Verdy, 
Oberstleutenant und Abtheilungschef wie zum Gen- 
eral stab. 

(Seal of) Hauptquartier, 

Seiner Majestats des Koenings chef des General 
Stabs der grossen armee. 

Translation. 

H. Q. Ferrieres, September 21, 1870. 
Great Headquarters of his 
Majesty the King Chief of 
the General staff of the Army. 
Permission is given to the bearer, Mr. Julian Kune 
to remain within the lines of the operating army. 

All authorities are hereby requested to place no ob- 
stacles in his way : 

In behalf of the Quartermasters General. 
(Signed) V. Verdy, 

Lieutenant Colonel and department chief of the staff. 
(Seal) Headquarters of his Majesty the King, 
Chief of the General Staff of the whole Army. 



156 BEMINTSCENCES 

After showing me the captured French balloon, 
which were kept in one of the outhouses, the Colonel 
dismissed me with a hearty: "Auf Wiedersehen," he 
retiring to his office, while I walked about the large 
Park which extended for miles, admiring the trees, ex- 
otic plants and flowers. It was certainly the finest 
private park I had ever seen. As the castle was then 
occupied by the King and his suite, I could gain no 
admittance to examine it, as I subsequently did the 
Chateau St. Cloud, but I had it fully described to me 
later on by Dr. Moritz Bush, Bismarck's private sec- 
retary, whom I met socially quite frequently. He told 
me one or two stories in connection with their tem- 
porary quarters at Ferrier, one of which was as fol- 
lows: 

"The Major-domo of the castle at first refused to 
furnish the King's table with wine. After vain peace- 
able efforts, the officers of the staff threatened him 
with the "Stroh Halter" (Straw Halter). This had the 
desired effect, for afterwards the wine was flowing like 
water." 

Another story which Dr. Bush told me was that 
"King William strictly prohibited shooting in the Fer- 
rier Park, which was filled with pheasants. One day 
I asked the Chancellor why he did not sally forth 
once in a while and shoot a few of these toothsome 
birds for the table. 'Why not, indeed,' he replied with 
a smile. 'True, shooting is strictly prohibited, but 
what can they do to me if I turn out and knock over a 
brace or two? I can't be taken up, for there is no one 
to do it.' An entry in my dairy on September 28th 
says: 'Today the King drove out to visit the canton- 



BUYING A HORSE I57 

ments before Paris. At midday I had a communication 
to make to the Prime Minister. In the anteroom they 
told me that he was not in ; he and Moltke went out 
shooting pheasants, which they did adjoining the Park, 
so as not to trespass His Majesty's commands'." 

BUYING A HORSE 

On my return to Lagni, where I had an appoint- 
ment with Capt. Kuster of the 5th Saxon regiment, I 
bought of him a horse, for which I paid 104 francs, 
about $5.00. The horse was a captured French artil- 
lery horse, rather too heavy for fast travel, but quite 
inured to the sound of cannon, mitrailleuse and small 
arm fire, which was quite an advantage. While I was 
hunting for a chaise and harness this 23rd of Septem- 
ber, the French made a sortie at Bicetre, a hamlet West 
of Paris. The sortie, however, was nipped in the bud 
by the ever-watchful German army, inflicting on the 
French a loss of 12 guns and 2,000 prisoners. On the 
24th of September, Jules Favre appeared under a flag 
of truce. 

The French chauvinistic press at once jumped to 
the conclusion that Favre's presence at Ferrier au- 
gured peace. I was equally impressed and influenced 
by that generally prevailing spirit, so that I sent a 
cable to the Chicago Tribune on September 24th as 
follows : "Prospects for peace good ; Favre here." 
Nothing came, however, of this visit. Bismarck, it 
seems (as I subsequently heard from his Secretary, 
Dr. Bush), had but little faith and confidence in Favre's 
diplomatic mission, as he could produce no authentic 
authority from the provisional government to treat 



158 BEMINISCENCES 

for peace. The Chancellor, in fact, sized him up as a 
fine actor, who came to the German headquarters, pre- 
pared as he was with powdered face and perfumed 
garments, to make an impression on the man of iron. 

Favre's proposition was the cession of Alsace-Lor- 
raine and the payment of the war expenses, but that 
the German army should not enter Paris. The last was 
the rock on which the negotiations were wrecked. 

Bismarck was ready to negotiate for peace, in 
fact I remember that at one time, as General Sheridan 
told me, he authorized General Burnside to offer them 
terms of an armistice, but the provisional government 
was still defiant and would not accept the terms. 

THE SIEGE OF PARIS 

After these failures to secure an armistice, the Ger- 
man army went to work entrenching themselves 
around Paris and preparing their winter quarters. The 
most peculiar thing about the siege of Paris was the 
almost total absence of tents. The surrounding army 
occupied, where practicable, the many hamlets, villages 
and castles that surround Paris, while the advance 
posts and pickets made their quarters by gopher-like 
burrowing into the ground. 

STARTING FOR VERSAILLES 

. On the 25th of September, after having bought a 
harness and a second hand chaise, I started for Ver- 
sailles, where I understood the headquarters of the 
King's army would be removed to and where I under- 
stood Generals Sheridan and Jas. W. Forsythe were 
already domiciled. The route I took was outside the 



STAETINa FOR VEBSAILLES 159 

besieging line, crossing the Marne on a pontoon bridge, 
where it was said the King gave 5 thalers to each one 
of the privates who helped carry his luggage across. 
Passing Chaussy, I reached Champigni-sur-Marne, one 
of the most beautiful spots around Paris. While at 
Champigni we were suddenly reminded by the burst- 
ing of shells fired at us from Fort Charenton, that we 
were at the advanced post of the Crown Prince of 
Prussia, and that the place was entrenched and occu- 
pied by the first battalion of the 7th Wuertenberger 
regiment, and we further learned that we were only 
seven miles from Paris. The only inhabitant of the 
2,000 people living here was an old man, a son of a 
German, and his wife. Here I put up for the night in 
a large villa belonging to a building contractor, who, 
however, had abandoned it and hied himself to Paris. 
The villa contained 20 rooms, among which was an 
elegantly furnished library of 4,000 volumes. The 
kitchen was filled with valuable china. The Wuerten- 
bergers, who occupied the place, discovered the most 
costly furniture concealed under the floor of the stables. 
The grand piano was still in the salon, where we had 
the satisfaction of listening to nocturnes, rhapsodies, 
etc., played by artists who wore the Wuertenberger 
private soldier's uniform. 

But all this splendor was aggravating, for I could 
get nothing to satisfy my hunger except dry bread 
and some soup made of Erbsenwurst (pea sausage). 

Making my couch in the library, I retired about 
midnight, after having hurriedly glanced through the 
many valuable and interesting books, all in French, 
that filled the mahogany book-cases. 



160 EEMINISCENCES 

On the following morning I walked over to the 
castle, where the assistant surgeon of the Wuerten- 
berg regiment, which garrisoned at Champigni, regaled 
me with some good coffee for breakfast. All kinds of 
provisions, such as meats, potatoes, butter and milk, 
were absolutely not to be had either for love or money. 
I tried to buy some milk from a French milkman, but 
the only answer to my application was : "II n'a pas de 
lait, monsieur; les Prussiens ont emportee nos vaches." 
(There is no milk, monsieur; the Prussians have car- 
ried off our cows.) This excuse, however, was far 
from the truth, for all grains and provisions, as soon as 
it became patent that Paris would be besieged, were 
requisitioned from the surrounding country by the 
French provisional government and taken to Paris, 
while the residue, which could not be carried away, 
was wantonly destroyed. As the German commissariat 
had not been fully organized yet, on account of lack of 
transportation facilities, provisions, with the exception 
of large quantities of Erbsenwurst, could not be 
brought at this time from the fatherland. Large 
foraging parties, consisting at times of whole squad- 
rons of cavalry, were sent out into the country, at 
times forty miles distant from Paris, which helped to 
supply the besieging army. I was surprised to find the 
common French people, living outside of the large 
cities, so ignorant and superstitious. It is, however, 
not to be wondered at, for during the 15 years prior to 
the downfall of the Napoleonic Empire, all efforts 
were made not to advance the intellectual condition 
of the common people, but to retard it as much as 
possible, so that they could be used against the on- 



STABTING FOR VEESAILLES 161 

slaughts of the communistic proletariat of Paris, who 
were waiting for an opportunity to carry out their 
long cherished plans for vengeance against the bour- 
geoise. It was this chauvinism of the country people 
that saved France from the horrors of anarchy. Even 
after the German arms had overthrown the Napoleonic 
dynasty at Sedan, and Paris was being besieged, these 
unsophisticated country folks believed that Napoleon 
permitted the Prussian's advance, only to entrap them 
and thus entirely annihilate them. You may tem- 
porarily subdue such people, but you can not conquer 
them permanently. 

In order to evade the too frequent bursting of 
shells which the French threw into Champigni from 
Fort Charenton, I left the place and went South along 
the Marne to Chenevieres, and as I stood on its 
heights that morning of September 25th, 1870, a won- 
derful sight presented itself before my astonished 
eyes. There was Paris, still enchanting, even while 
in the throes of distress and starvation. Only a little 
over a year ago I walked its streets and boulevards 
and admired its Pantheon, Arc de Triomphe, Notre 
Dame and the Louvre, with all its treasures. I have at- 
tended the Fete Napoleon on the Champs de Mars, 
where I saw 100,000 soldiers march past the stand 
where Napoleon and his brilliantly attired staff re- 
viewed them. The buildings were all there, but the 
pall of death seemed now to hover over them and the 
9,000 public houses and private buildings of which the 
Paris of that day was made up. Its 2,000,000 people 
imprisoned within its walls were prostrated, partly by 
fear and partly by hunger. All seemed to be dead ex- 



162 BEMINISCENCES 

cept the trees and flowers in the Bois de Boulogne and 
the various parks. Through my telescope I could 
plainly see these, Nature's innocent children. 

From Chenevieres I had to drive South to Boissy 
St. Leger, where I halted to feed beast and man. Our 
party now consisted of myself, Mr. Latham, corre- 
spondent of an English paper; Dr. Havelin, an ama- 
teur Johanniter, and my stable boy. The dinner con- 
sisted of some meat which I had bought of a soldier 
for the price of a cigar. This time I showed my cul- 
inary art, acquired during the Hungarian revolution of 
1848, by preparing an excellent dish of Gulyas. 

After dinner we left for Vilneuf-sur-Seine, in the 
cantonment (county) of Longjumeaux. This village 
is beautifully situated about four leagues from Paris. 
We had crossed the Seine on a pontoon bridge con- 
structed by the Germans. We reached Versailles 
about 9 P. M., on the 26th of September, without en- 
countering any more obstacles. General von Voigts 
Rhets was the military Governor, since the German 
army had entered Versailles, although the French Per- 
fect, as well as the Mayor, who stuck to their posts, 
carried out all civil laws and ordinances which were 
not inconsistent with the martial law as proclaimed 
by the invaders. 

ARRIVAL AT VERSAILLES 

It took me a couple of days to secure quarters, and 
while walking the streets in quest of a lodging place, 
I encountered Generals Sheridan and Forsythe, who 
were stopping at the hotel de Reservoir. The Gen- 
eral kindly invited me to call on him any evening. 



THE ARREST OF AN EDITOR IQ$ 

Versailles, with its park and art galleries, its play- 
ing waters, and its Grand and Petit Trianon, was a 
very interesting show place for the thousands of Ger- 
man officers and soldiers who visited these places in 
large numbers. It was interesting to listen to the 
comments of private soldiers on the various paintings 
in the art gallery. The King was expected to arrive 
on October 1st ,and the Prefecture was being put in 
readiness for him. As he had 700 persons in his suite, 
Bismarck, Moltke and numerous members of the gen- 
eral staff had to find quarters elsewhere. 

The Crown Prince took up his quarters at the 
Villa of Madame Andree. It was on a high ground 
just outside of Versailles. The King used to come there 
frequently to take observations with his spy glass. 

THE ARREST OF AN EDITOR 

Some little excitement was created by the arrest of 
M. Jeandel, editor of "Journal de Versailles," for se- 
ditious articles published contrary to the laws and 
regulations of the military authorities. One of these 
articles referred to the colored paper which the Jour- 
nal had to use in consequence of the Prussian invasion. 
To satisfy myself whether the facts would bear out 
these assertions, I visited the office of the paper, 
where the printing was done, and I found enough 
white paper still in the store-room to last at least six 
months. The editor was lucky enough to escape 
with a sharp reprimand. 

Sometimes I looked upon the acts of the French 
people, from head down to the lowest grade, as child- 
ish and silly. So, for instance, when I once found my- 



164 REMINISCENCES 

self in front of a building where there was a private 
gallery of paintings. I asked the concierge to let me 
enter and examine the paintings. He replied : "Nous 
ne somme plus les maitres ici." (We are no longer 
masters here.) And yet he had full charge of the build- 
ing, with all its art treasures, and besides, had a sen- 
tinel furnished by the German military Governor for 
his and the building's protection. 

Even their most intellectual leaders were at times 
subject to these childish eccentricities. As an ex- 
ample I would cite Victor Hugo's letter which he 
wrote King Wilhelm asking him to spare Metz, to 
which the King replied: "Quant a' mois, j'aime beau- 
coup vos oraisons comme poesie, mais comme guar- 
anti de paix j'aime mieux Metz." (A far as I am 
concerned, I love much your beautiful expressions as 
poetry, but as a guarantee of peace I love Metz more.) 

After having settled down in my temporary quar- 
ters, I paid a visit to General Sheridan on the evening 
of September 29th, at his quarters at the hotel de 
Reservoir. The General excited my interest by relat- 
ing to me his and General Forsythe's experience dur- 
ing their recent visit to St. Cloud, the favorite castle 
of the Empress Eugenie and Napoleon, the place 
where he signed the declaration of war against Prus- 
sia. When I hinted at my desire to visit the castle 
myself, both Generals tried to dissuade me from 
this dangerous undertaking, as they called it, for while 
the German soldiers inhabited the interior of the 
castle, the surrounding park was constantly exposed 
to the Franctireur (French sharpshooters) from the 
opposite shore of the Seine. 





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CASTLE OF VEUSAILLES, FACING TOWARDS I'AIMS. 




CASTLE OF ST. CLOUD, FACING THE I'ARK. 



MY VISIT TO ST. CLOUD 165 



MY VISIT TO ST. CLOUD 



The road from Versailles to St. Cloud is very fine 
and the distance about 5 miles. 

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 29th of Sep- 
tember, I rapidly drove over the Chaussee that con- 
nected Versailles with St. Cloud, accompanied by my 
friend Mr. Latham and the French stable boy. The 
castle had fallen into the hands of the Crown Prince's 
army since the abortive sortie at Petit Bicetre, and 
they kept it by throwing a company of Wuerten- 
bergers into the building, who could be relieved dur- 
ing the dark hours of night. 

In about 25 minutes we reached Ville D'Avry, 
which is on the border of a small lake. Twenty-five 
minutes more driving brought us to the Viaduct of the 
Paris & Versailles Railroad, called "Le chemin de fer 
de la rive gauche." Here the road was blockaded by 
large trees being piled across it from side to side. We 
had to leave our chaise with the stable boy, and La- 
tham and myself were led by a sentinel to the officer 
of the field guard, which was encamped in the woods. 
After having examined our papers, the officer, who 
was a lieutenant, informed us that he had strict orders 
not to let pass in or out any civilian ; but after I had 
informed him that I represented an American news- 
paper, hei relented saying "Nun, ja; die Amerikaner 
sind unsere Freunde." (Well, yes the Americans are 
our friends). After having passed this guardpost, our 
progress was thrice interrupted by still more advanced 
pickets, and each time the magic word "Amerikaner" 
removed the barriers. After permitting us to pass, 



166 REMINISCENCES 

the officer commanding the most advanced post simply 
asked us if we wished to share the fate of Major Pem- 
berton, of the London Times, who was shot while try- 
ing to run the gauntlet. 

When we first saw the soldiers running from tree 
to tree and from statue to statue, we thought they 
were playing the game of "Hide-and-seek," but on 
hearing the whistling of the chassepot bullets and the 
shrieking of the shells that passed over our heads, 
we realized that the apparent game was a serious one, 
and that it may wind up quite seriously. Undaunted, 
however, by these sinister reflections, we played the 
game, and after we had run the gauntlet from tree to 
tree and from statue to statue, which game lasted 
nearly forty minutes, we were finally admitted by the 
sentinel guarding the main entrance to the castle, 
when the door flew open, and we found ourselves in- 
side the castle of St. Cloud. The St. Cloud park is 
very large though not as large as the park at Versail- 
les. During the time of the Franco-Prussian war it 
was in the immediate vicinity of the castle, filled with 
fine statuary, prominent among which was "The Lan- 
tern of Demosthenes," a copy of the celebrated Greek 
sculptor Lysicrate, a pupil and rival of Lyssippe, of 
the time of Alexander the Great. This frequently has 
been erroneously misnamed "The Lantern of Dioge- 
nes. 

Captain Marsuch of the 4th Regiment, who was in 
command of the detachment occupying the castle, 
kindly gave us in charge of Lieutenant von Lavadsky, 
to lead us through the building. The front of the liv- 
ing portion of the castle was 154 feet, ornamented by 



MY VISIT TO ST. CLOUD 167 

various bas reliefs and supported by Corinthian pil- 
lars, its height must have been about 70 feet. There 
w^ere four statues, representing Power, Prudence, 
Wealth and War, which adorned the fagade. All the 
furniture, paintings and ohjets de vertu in the castle 
were of comparatively recent date, for during the revo- 
lution of 1848 everything had been sold for debt. Na- 
poleon, however, refurnished it in more costly style 
than ever before; he spent six million francs in em- 
bellishing it. It was in this castle on the 18th of 
Brumaire an VIII (9th of November 1799) that the 
council of the ancients had decreed that the council of 
100 should come here to hold its sessions, at which 
Lucien Buonaparte was to preside. It was here that 
Napoleon the First came near being assassinated by a 
deputy from Corsica, who foresaw Napoleon's inten- 
tion of establishing a despotic government. Here 
were the headquarters of the alliees during May, 1814, 
while they occupied Paris. 

We were first led into the large blue room called 
"Le Marchechal Vaillant" and through other large 
rooms, until we reached the gallery of paintings, 
where there were several fine paintings and a statuette 
of Josephine. We next entered the music room, on 
whose walls was the portrait of Philip Egalite and 
other portraits of the Orleans family. I must not omit 
mentioning the grand painting representing the Ocean, 
over the entrance from the grand stairs, where Queen 
Victoria was received by Napoleon. 

We next went to the top of the tower, in which 
were many elegant rooms and numerous closets filled 
with feminine gowns. Nearly all the rooms had beds. 



168 EEMINISCENCES 

bed clothing and clocks, just as they were left by the 
occupants, untouched. 

From the top of the tower the view was grand; 
the whole of Paris was visible, with the Seine, serpent- 
like, winding its way through the beleaguered city. 
The French pickets on the other side of the river 
were in full view from any part of the tower, and al- 
though they kept up an almost constant firing at the 
castle, the Prussians refrained from replying, as they 
had strict orders not to discharge their Zuendnadel 
guns except at a distance of 150 feet from the enemy. 

While we were coming down from the tower we 
met two registeurs, conducted by two Wuertenberger 
Generals, who by the direction of the King were to 
make out a list of all articles contained in the castle. 

The first apartment to be entered was the Em- 
peror's reception room; the next the council room, 
where Napoleon signed the declaration of war; both 
the chair in which he sat and the pen he used were 
registered. The next room visited was his buffet, 
covered with fine carvings and two life sized dogs, 
above which hung the Emperor's hunting case. The 
room was finished in yellow oak and grained. Next 
to the buffet came the work-room, then the toilet 
room, bedroom and bath room. On the bed, which 
had a carved crown at its head, there were still all the 
bed clothes and white damask curtains enveloping it. 
Next to this room was the Empress' bed room ; next 
her toilet room and bath room. In the nursery there 
still stood, although out of use, the cradle of the Prince 
Imperial. In the Empress* work room there was some 
lint which she had herself prepared for the wounded. 



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ON A FOEAGING EXCURSION 169 

Her reception room, aside from a case containing vari- 
ous holy relics sent to her by Pionono, was not of par- 
ticular interest. The tea room had a little table with 
three seats around it. The Emperor's library was next 
visited, where its shelves contained 15,000 volumes 
of valuable books. We left the Chateau at 6 P. M., 
when it was too dark for the French sharpshooters to 
practice their marksmanship on us. 

When on the following day I reported to General 
Sheridan my venturesome visit to St. Cloud he was 
surprised and at the same time elated that an Ameri- 
can correspondent and a Civil War veteran should 
have accomplished the hazardous feat. I probably 
was the last civilian who visited the castle before its 
destruction on the 13th of October by the French 
themselves; the shells from Fort Valerian set it on 
fire, and it was burnt down only a short time after 
my visit, with all its priceless treasures. 

ON A FORAGING EXCURSION 

Early in the morning of the second day of October, 
having as companions an English and a German cor- 
respondent, I left Versailles on an inspection tour, 
which we always called a foraging excursion, because 
we always had to forage around for something to eat 
for man and beast. We took the northeast road, lead- 
ing out from Versailles, and we soon reached (by a 
finely macadamized road) the town of Viroflay, in the 
department of the Seine and Oise, about two miles 
from Versailles and about seven miles from Paris. 
The country is very hilly and picturesque. From here 
we passed into the great woods of Meudon, ascending 



170 BEMINISCENCES 

a hill, which took us almost two hours in accomplish- 
ing, when all at once we found ourselves opposite the 
camp of the Fifth Jaeger battalion. A sergeant major 
took charge of us, and after having left our carriage 
where we alighted, we were led up to a cottage west 
of a place called Bellevue, where the two famous res- 
taurants de la ferme des Bruyeres are situated, and 
where during peace times the Parisians love to come 
during the hot season and make merry by eating and 
dancing. Nearby were the abandoned French rifle 
pits. From the terrace of the cottage we could plainly 
feast our eyes on Fort Valerian, the bridge across the 
Seine, and Montmartre. We returned to our carriage 
and drove due north for Bellevue, which we soon 
reached, and were astounded at the beautiful view and 
scenery that met our eyes. The whole place was like 
a garden dotted with numerous and exquisitely built 
villas. We were then about six miles from Paris. It 
might be well to mention here the various positions 
the besieging army around Paris occupied. The army 
of the Prussian Crown Prince was spread over the 
territory from Boisy St, Leger as far as St. Germain, 
opposite the Fort Valerian. On the right of the Crown 
Prince the army of the Saxon Crown Prince encircled 
the territory beginning at Boisy St. Leger and extend- 
ing all around to Nogent sur Marne. The besieging 
army, about three hundred thousand strong, kept the 
city of Paris pretty well sealed up. 

•MEUDON 

On arriving at Meudon, which is about six miles 
from Versailles and six miles from Paris, we soon 



MEUDON 171 

found that the castle of Meudon, the residence of 
Prince Napoleon (Plon Plon) had been badly damaged 
by the French gunboats firing on it from the Seine. 
The heights of Meudon were the most available points 
whence an attack could be made on the Forts d'Issy, 
Montrouge and Nauvres. On the approach of the Ger- 
man army to Paris, on the 19th of September, the 
French entrenchments in process of construction were 
precipitately abandoned, leaving baskets and wheel- 
barrows scattered all over the field. 

I was driving myself. My French horse, "Sedan," 
was leisurely winding its way uphill, when we were 
halted by the German pickets, who informed us that 
we had crossed the picket line, and that we were al- 
most within the entrenched camp of the besieging 
army that extended into Sevres, the place where the 
celebrated china is manufactured. We however found 
out something more that was less agreeable, and that 
was that Fort d'Issy and Montrouge were indiscrim- 
inately throwing their shells on the heights of Meudon 
and incidentally into our very midst. It was quite for- 
tunate that we had a horse that was well inured to the 
din of battle, for without any warning an immense 
shell passed shrieking and howling within a few feet 
from our carriage, breaking off branches from an im- 
mense tree nearby, and buried itself in the ground, 
without bursting. Our bucephalus, "Sedan," however, 
merely pricked up his ears in defiance, and without 
accelerating his gait. We were more in a hurry than 
he was in getting out of this unpleasant situation, for 
who wants to get killed in a fight in which he has no 
real interest? We quickly turned to the right and 



172 EEMINISCENCES 

entered a hollow, where we considered ourselves better 
sheltered from the French shells, and where we also 
found the object of our search, Dr. Scoppern, a sur- 
geon and the guest of the Fifth Jaeger Battalion. 
After having alighted from our chaise, we were stand- 
ing under a large tree, and while the doctor entertained 
us with stories of remarkable escapes he had during 
the late sortie, in which the Sixth army corps vic- 
toriously resisted the French assault on their lines, 
the French shells began dropping around us too fre- 
quently and my German correspondent expressed his 
desire to start at once for home, as it threatened rain, 
while my English correspondent friend said that it 
would be "beastly" unpleasant to get killed for the 
paltry few pounds which he received as a war corre- 
spondent. 

After a hearty "auf wiedersehn," which we ex- 
changed with the doctor and the officers of the post, 
we turned back from the danger line, where I had the 
honor of standing as godfather to my two correspon- 
dent friends at their baptism by fire. 

My visit to Meudon was of the highest interest. 
The place was not only the official residence of Prince 
Napoleon (Plon Plon) who, during the beginning of 
our Civil War paid a visit to General Fremont at St. 
Louis; but it was also the great place of amusement 
for the Parisians, who on every possible occasion 
flocked to the great woods of Meudon by the thou- 
sands to seek recreation and social amusement. It 
had several factories, among which was a fine glass 
factory. It was here that the witty Rabelais held forth 
as its cure. 



FIEST EXCUESION TO BOUGIVAL 173 

As we left Bellevue we again heard the whistle of 
shells over our heads. We were then near the so- 
called American tramway that runs from Versailles to 
St. Germain ; its operation, however, had been dis- 
continued. We afterwards learned that the shells 
were thrown at some German soldiers who ventured 
out into the fields to dig potatoes for their meals. The 
men, however, who belonged to the Fifth Jaeger Bat- 
talion, escaped unhurt. 

I came near omitting to mention that the Chassepot 
rifle, which I subsequently presented to the Chicago 
Historical Society, was picked up near the rifle pits 
of the Fifth Jaeger Battalion at Meudon. 

On this tour we also saw the captured balloon that 
was filled with interesting correspondence. It also 
contained thousands of little posters calling upon the 
German soldiers to get rid of their king,i as they (the 
French) got rid of Napoleon. 

FIRST EXCURSION TO BOUGIVAL 

On the 4th of October at 9 a. m., we — myself and 
my Englishman, Mr. Latham — started through the 
north gate of Versailles to Bougival. The country was 
undulating all the way to La Celle, the little village 
once before referred to. This little village was quite 
an important place during the time of Charlemagne. 
It has an immense chateau built by Louis Quatorze, 
which was subsequently occupied during the reign of 
Louis Quinze by the celebrated Madame de Pompa- 
dour. It subsequently fell into the hands of a French- 
man called Vinde, who filled its extensive surrounding 
fields with Merino sheep. 



174 EExMINISCENCES 

After a drive of about three hours we reached 
Bougival, a village on the left bank of the Seine, which 
here is quite sluggish and not more than about twenty 
yards in width. The bridge leading across to Croissy 
had been destroyed. We found here stationed the 
Fifth Prussian regiment. Inasmuch as the chaussee 
was barricaded, we were turned back towards Louve- 
ciens, where the celebrated waterworks are situated 
which supply the Versailles fountains and the city 
with water. This aqueduct is about two thousand feet 
long. The water is raised from the Seine to a height 
of 600 feet. 

We also visited Malmaison, the famous retreat of 
the Empress Josephine. No wonder that whenever 
she became tired of the mockeries and hollowness of 
court life at the Tuilleries, she retired to this quiet and 
restful place. 

MONTE CHRISTO 

During this tour we also visited the castle of Monte 
Christo, which was erected by the celebrated author, 
Alexander Dumas. Later, however, it became the 
property of Victorien Sardou, another French author 
and dramatist. 

The arabesques carved on the walls of this villa 
were done by two Arabs, who were sent there by 
Abdul Kader, the famous Algerian chief. It has two 
fagades, one towards Paris and the other towards the 
park. Its overtopping minarets gives it an Oriental 
look. The guest room is completely covered by carv- 
ings and flowers cut into gypsum. Cerberus, the dog 



MONTE CHRISTO I75 

of Hades, cut in marble, stood at the entrance to the 
cellar. The letters "A. D." and the inscription of "Aut 
Ceasar aut nihil" were seen in the beautifully stained 
window. When I visited the place the only inhabi- 
tants of the villa were two sisters of charity, who took 
care of it. 

On my return to Versailles, I changed my quarters 
and took up my lodgings with Monsieur Ducrocque, a 
highly educated French avocat, whose family had left 
for the south of France on the approach of the "Prus- 
siens." It was through Mons. Ducrocque that I was 
enabled to make the acquaintance of the haute monde 
of Versailles, among which was the celebrated Jouferoy 
family. The Marchioness de Jouferoy was a widow 
with two daughters, and in greatly reduced circum- 
stances. She was, like her husband had been, an ar- 
dent Orleanist. I also met at Versailles a Dr. Brew- 
ster, an American dentist, who had resided there for 
forty years and who preceded Dr. Evans as Napoleon's 
family dentist. He was a strong sympathizer with the 
French cause. His family had gone to England on 
the approach of the German army. While the Ger- 
mans were entering Versailles he displayed the Stars 
and Stripes over his residence, but this did not pre- 
vent their billetting forty men on his spacious resi- 
dence, nor from ordering the flag to be hauled down. 
He, however, refused to comply with this, and the 
German commander of Versailles, General Von 
Voight Rhetz, did not deem it best to enforce the 
order. The doctor, however, soon passed away, and 
he was buried with Masonic honors. 



176 REMINISCENCES 

THE king's arrival AT VERSAILLES 

The King arrived at last, on the 5th of October, 
from Baron Rothschild's castle at Ferrieres. It was in 
one sense a gala day, as the officers and soldiers of 
the German army who were at Versailles greeted him 
with enthusiastic "Hochs." But as far as the French 
residents were concerned, they stared at him with 
indifferent curiosity, if not with actual sullenness. The 
King's carriage, which contained, besides the King, his 
personal adjutant, was drawn by six black horses, 
with outriders, and escorted by an escadron of his 
favorite Uhlanens. The relationship existing between 
these Uhlans and the King was more like that existing 
between a father and his children. No matter how 
often during the day they might have been drawn up 
in front of the Prefecture palace, where the King took 
up his quarters, for the purpose of escorting him on 
his frequent drives, he invariably greeted them with : 
"Guten tag, Uhlanen," to which the harmonious reply 
came: "Giiten tag, cure Majestdt!" (Good morning, 
Uhlans; Good morning, your Majesty). 

Before I had the opportunity of observing the re- 
lationship that existed between the German private 
soldier and his superior officers, I had the generally 
accepted erroneous idea that the officers, who belong 
to the Junker class, were extremely arrogant to their 
inferiors. I have, however, found that while the strict- 
est discipline is preserved while in the line of duty, 
a kindly feeling exists between officers and men. I 
have seen officers of high rank fraternize while ol¥ 
duty with common privates. An interesting story was 



THE KING'S AREIVAL AT VEESAILLES 177 

told me while at Versailles of how Bismarck broke off 
a piece of bread and took it to his hungry sentinel. 
The Crown Prince of Prussia was especially noted for 
his democratic attitude towards his inferiors. I often 
saw him during battle in earnest conversation with 
privates. A story too good to be lost was related 
about Unser Frits and a Bavarian soldier whom he 
praised for his extraordinary bravery. "Yes, your 
Royal Highness," said the Bavarian, "if we had had 
you for our commander in 1866 (referring to the war 
in which Bavaria sided with Austria) we would have 
whipped those d — d Prussians to pieces!" 

THE king's HEADQUARTERS AT VERSAILLES 

The King's arrival at Versailles wrought a big 
change in the occupancy of quarters among the many 
German princes and notables that were present in that 
city. Monsieur Fritz (the Crown Prince), as the 
French preferred to call him, after the French royal 
title given to the French heir to the throne, had to 
cede his quarters at the Prefecture to his august father, 
while Generals Moltke, Blumenthal and Bismarck had 
to find quarters elsewhere for themselves and their 
numerous following. 

THE CASTLE AT MEUDON DESTROYED 

It was again my good fortune to have visited Prince 
Napoleon's castle at Meudon before it was destroyed 
by the shells thrown into it by Fort Valerian. It 
looked to me at the time that this was spitework, done 
more against Napoleon than against the German army. 
General Trochue, the Governor of Paris during the 



178 EEMINISCENCES 

provisional government of defense, never was much 
of a favorite with Napoleon ; on the contrary, he was 
a well known Orleanist. The cannonading, which was 
fierce, was heard in Versailles, and lasted about three 
hours early in the morning of the 5th of October. 

THE PLAYING OF THE FOUNTAINS 

The grand playing of the Versailles fountains gen- 
erally takes place on the first day of October. This 
year, however, it had been postponed several days so 
that the King, with his grand following, should be 
able to witness the interesting sight. 

The fountains of Versailles have been famous for 
their grand playing all over the world. The water 
furnished to the park and its numerous fountains and 
cascades comes from the celebrated waterworks at 
Marly le roi, or Louveciennes, where it is raised into 
viaducts 600 feet high and is conveyed by gravity to 
the reservoirs at Versailles. 

The spectacle was witnessed by the King, who was 
walking along with the Prefect of the department at 
his side. He was closely followed by Bismarck in a 
general's uniform, with his constantly attending detec- 
tive some ten feet behind him. Then Moltke, the brain 
of this most successful campaign, was skipping along, 
unattended, like a school boy just out for a frolic. 
Whenever I saw Moltke he always reminded me of 
our late Senator Trumbull, both as to stature and 
physiognomy. I mainly attribute the defeat of the 
French at Sedan, and in fact at all the battles fought, 
to the genius of that great strategist and tactician 
Moltke, who, while sitting in his office, directed the 



MEETING WITH HANS BLUM 179 

various armies from the headquarters of the general 
staff. Of course Unser Fritz, with General Blumen- 
thal, was there, the latter all in smiles like a school 
girl who has just passed a successful examination in 
school. To sum it up, nearly all the generals that had 
anything to do with the siege of Paris, and all the 
princes, dukes and admirals of the navy, who did not 
have the slightest connection with the siege, were in 
the park that afternoon, and made up one of the most 
gorgeous displays of notables I had ever witnessed. 

MY MEETING WITH HANS BLUM 

One day, as I took a walk in the park, my attention 
was drawn to a young man wearing a white fedora 
hat. I took him to be a Frenchman, but on speaking 
to him I found that he was the correspondent of a Ger- 
man illustrated periodical, the "Daheim," and the son 
of the martyr Robert Blum, who was court martialed 
and shot by Prince Windisgraetz after the capitulation 
of Vienna in 1848. We became well acquainted, and 
made many excursions together around Paris. It was 
through Mr. Blum that I became acquainted with 
Doctor Moritz Bush, private secretary to Prince Bis- 
marck ; also with Moltke, who was a fellow member of 
the Reichsrath to which Mr. Blum also belonged. 

A day or two after the above related water display 
I met General Burnside, accompanied by General 
Sheridan, on the streets of Versailles. General Burn- 
side had just returned from Paris. He came as a quasi 
semi-ofRcial ambassador to pave the way for an armis- 
tice and peace. Bismarck, however, like the shrewd 
diplomat he was, read the letter which the general had 



180 EEMINISCENCES 

brought from Jules Favre, with a few blandishing 
phrases addressed to Burnside, would not commit him' 
self either in favor or against an armistice and final 
peace, after his previous failure to reach an under- 
standing with Favre himself at Ferrieres. Bismarck as 
well as the rest of the Germans before Paris, talked 
about their being in Paris within the next two weeks, 
as they were momentarily expecting the arrival of 
seven hundred siege guns with which to attack the 
city. General Burnside, however, expressed a contrary 
opinion, and said that Paris would not be taken within 
two months by assault and that the city was well 
provisioned for at least two months. 

PEACE CONDITIONS DISCUSSED 

As early as the 7th of October was the plan on 
which the Germans would consent to peace, unfolded 
to me by my friend Blum, who had it from Dr. Bush, 
Bismarck's secretary. The first sine qua non condition 
would be the ceding of Elsass and Lothringen (Alsace- 
Lorraine) leaving out Nancy, but including Metz. 
The territory thus acquired to be governed by a gov- 
ernor appointed by the German Bundesrath until such 
a time as the inhabitants of the said territory should 
be loyal enough to be admitted as members of the 
Deutsche Bund. The next condition was that France 
was to pay a war indemnity of at least three millard 
of francs. 

It is noteworthy that subsequent events proved 
nearly all the above conditions to have been faithfully 
and successfully carried out, for today Alsace and Lo- 



BOMBAKDMENT OF BOUGIVAL 181 

raine are a part of the German Empire and sends its 
representatives to the Bundesrath. 

BOMBARDMENT OF BOUGIVAL 

Hearing a heavy cannonading in the direction of 
Bougival, Hans Blum and myself started out for that 
place in the morning of the 11th of October. We saw 
the Thirty-seventh regiment and several other detach- 
ments advancing in double quick time to the front. 
Passing through Marly and Louveciens we soon 
reached Bougival, where the shells dropped all around 
us thick and fast. We were in front of a building 
where the military band of the Forty-seventh regiment 
was quartered, who were just partaking of their noon- 
day meal, when a shell struck the building, tearing an 
immense piece out of it, wounding six and killing two 
of the musicians, and not satisfied with this mischief 
the shell ricocheted and went through the next build- 
ing and buried itself within it several feet deep before 
it exploded. Inasmuch as both myself and Mr. Blum 
were noncombatants we thought it best for our health 
and happiness to leave this dangerous place in a hurry 
and hie ourselves below a hill which partly protected 
us from the Fort Valerian shells that were thrown so 
assiduously into Bougival. 

We espied a pretty villa on the crest of the hill, 
and leaving our chaise we ascended the hill and entered 
the villa, which proved to be the home of the cele- 
brated painter, Gerome. We found the house in a 
most distracting confusion. Furniture, valuable paint- 
ings and dining room and kitchen furniture were pell- 
mell scattered all over the house. The atelier contained 



182 BEMINISCENCES 

many valuable albums of sketchings, and there was 
an unfinished painting of Gerome's famous picture, 
"The Slave Market." We gathered all of the most 
valuable paintings, including the unfinished painting, 
which we cut out of its frame on the easel, and loaded 
them into our chaise, driving back to Versailles, which 
we reached after dark. We drove to the Mairie and 
delivered there the rescued paintings, which would 
have been destroyed, for Gerome's house was among 
those which suffered most from the shells thrown 
from Fort Valerian into Bougival during that after- 
noon. 

MEETING COUNT VON BISMARCK 

It was my habit to visit General Sheridan almost 
every evening to talk over matters and incidents of 
the day, and to exchange newspapers from home. So, 
on the evening of the 12th of October, while I was 
making my usual call, someone in the employ of the 
Hotel de Reservoir, where the general stopped, burst 
into the room where we sat and announced that "Bis- 
marck is going to be here to call on General Sheridan 
in a few minutes." I at once arose to leave, not wish- 
ing to intrude myself at a meeting of two such great 
personalities, but the general at once stopped me and 
said: "O, no, major; you just stay where you are, 
and I will introduce you to Bismarck." Of course, 
General Sheridan being my superior officer, I obeyed, 
and resumed my seat. In a few minutes more the 
door opened and in came the Man of Iron. "General," 
he said, "I must apologize for not having called on 
you ere this, but you know that I have so many princes 



AN UNSUCCESSFUL SORTIE 183 

to take care of that my time is pretty well occupied." 
He spoke in as good English as a born Englishman. 
The general at once introduced me as an ex-Union 
major and a correspondent of the Chicago "Tribune," 
After exchanging a few words of courtesy I at once 
withdrew. 

Generals Sheridan and Forsythe, becoming tired of 
waiting for the surrender of Paris, and evidently ad- 
vised by Bismarck during his last visit as above 
described, left Versailles on the 14th of October with 
the intention of traveling all over Europe and return- 
ing to Paris after its capitulation. 

AN UNSUCCESSFUL SORTIE 

While there was hardly a day when the French did 
not make attempts to break through the lines, the 
attempt they made on the 21st of October was fierce 
enough and made with such a large array of troops as 
to merit the appellation of a pitched battle. 

Towards noon of the 21st the cannonading, which 
was kept up more or less by the French forts night and 
day, became more pronounced and regular. I surmised 
that something was going on in the front of Mount 
Valerian, which the German soldiers had nicknamed 
"Baldrian," the name of a plant from which strong 
medicinal oil is extracted. 

We — Hans Blum and myself — got into our carnage 
and drove towards Malmaison, but we had not cov- 
ered more than half way there when our chaise broke 
down and we were compelled to abandon it in charge 
of my stable boy and to proceed on foot. 

We soon saw the King's carriage passing us and 



184 EEMINISCENCES 

going in the direction of the aqueduct at Louveciens, 
whence he could overlook the whole battlefield. After 
a lapse of half an hour we saw the King and his retinue 
again changing position and going about half a mile 
to the rear. Soon afterwards the Crown Prince, with 
his numerous staff officers, followed the King, who 
never left his carriage, while all others except myself 
and Blum were on horseback. We were wondering 
what occasioned this change of front to the rear, when 
my friend Blum espied General Moltke coming along 
on horseback. He went up to him and with anxious 
face asked him how matters stood in front, to which 
the great strategist replied, nonchalantly: "Alles its 
wieder in Ordnung" (All is again in order). Hearing 
this, from the source from which it came, reassured my 
friend Blum, we took our position right in front of 
the Crown Prince, who unconcernedly was puffing 
away and enjoying his well colored porcelain pipe. All 
at once the whistling of balls from the French skir- 
mishers could be heard, and a sudden order to scatter 
and not to stand so close together was given by the 
Crown Prince to his officers, which order was quickly 
carried out. The position of the notable crowd, com- 
posed of the King and a score of princes, was again 
changed to a safer place. 

The troops engaged in this affair were the Sixth, 
Forty-sixth and Fiftieth regiments of infantry, sup- 
ported by the Fifth corps of the Province of Posen 
and lower Silesia. The French attacking troops con- 
sisted of twenty-two battalions, fifty cannon, six 
mitrailleuse, and the heavy guns from Fort Valerian, 



AN UNSUCCESSFUL SOETIE 185 

which rose 415 feet above the Seine and whose shells 
could be thrown 7,000 yards. 

At Malmaison the French advanced steadily until 
they had reached the walls of the Chateau de Pompa- 
dour, where they were met by the death-dealing fire 
of the Sixth regiment of the German army who were 
concealed behind the walls. 

The French attack must have been very unexpected 
and fierce, for very soon the wounded began to come 
to the rear, one of whom told Mr. Blum that his regi- 
ment was badly cut up. The French, however, as is 
their usual custom, soon lost their spirit, or elan, and 
after a struggle of about two hours were repulsed and 
compelled to retire to the ground protected by the 
guns of Fort Valerian. They left behind them many 
cannon and mitrailleuse, and lost a hundred or more 
in prisoners. 

During this engagement I witnessed one of the odd- 
est sights in all my life. While the battle was going 
on, a woman was herding a lot of sheep on a field that 
lay between the combatants, and while the sheep were 
browsing their shepherdess occupied herself with gath- 
ering champignons (mushrooms). 

After the abortive attempt on the part of the French 
to break through the German lines, which anaconda- 
like became from day to day tighter and tighter, there 
was some rest for the besieging troops, though they 
never relaxed their unabated vigilance. Of course the 
cannonading from the forts was kept up, but as no 
damage resulted from it the natural conclusion was 
that this continuous waste of powder and shell was 
kept up merely to amuse the French who were shut 



186 EEMINISCENCES 

Up in the city, and who were continually told of the 
wonderful victories of the French armies. I became 
so used to the cannonading noises that came from Fort 
Valerian and Issy that whenever they ceased during 
the midnight hour for a short rest I invariably awoke 
from my sound sleep. 

AN EVENING WITH DOCTOR BUSCH 

Whenever Mr. Blum and I had any spare time from 
going on our foraging expeditions and from letter 
writing, we always spent an hour or so with Dr. Busch, 
who willingly supplied us with all the news and all 
that was in project of being accomplished for the uni- 
fication of the various German states. He also enter- 
tained us with various interesting anecdotes, most of 
them referring to his master, the Chancellor. 

Some of the anecdotes and bon mots I noted down 
for my letters to the Chicago "Tribune" at the time, 
but as all those letters were stolen from me, I have 
selected some of those anecdotes from Dr. Bush's 
"Our Chancellor," which I will give in the doctor's 
own words. 

"Bismarck on one occasion said: 'While I was 
attending the Paris Exposition in 1866, I thought to 
myself, how would it have been if we had fought out 
the Luxemburg quarrel? Should I be in Paris, or the 
French in Berlin? We were not as strong then as we 
are now; the Hanoverians and Hessians of that day 
could not have supplied us with so many good soldiers 
as today. As for the Schleswig-Holsteiners, who lately 
have been fighting like lions, they then had nc^army at 
all. The Saxon army was broken up, and had to be 



THEIRS AT VERSAILLES 187 

fully reorganized. What splendid fellows the Wuerten- 
bergers are now ; how magnificent. But in 1866 no sol- 
dier could help laughing at them, as they marched into 
Frankfort like a civil guard.' " 

This cited anecdote shows how clear and farseeing 
Bismarck was in his statesmanship. His life's task 
had been for many years the unification of the German 
principalities into one unified German Empire, and he 
worked steadfastly with that end in view, weighing 
every move before he made it and biding his time 
when to strike the final blow. 

THIERS IN VERSAILLES 

After Thiers arrival in Versailles, direct from 
Tours, the seat of the French government, I had fre- 
quently the chance of seeing him. He was a short, 
stout man with a large and well developed gray head ; 
he must have been around seventy-three years old. He 
was scrupulously well dressed, wore a stiff white 
cravat and had his black frock coat tightly buttoned 
up. His eyes were sparkling and his complexion florid. 
He looked to me more like a minister of the gospel 
than a diplomat. Bismarck's opinion of Thiers as a 
diplomat was not very flattering; he said of him as 
reported by Dr. Bush: "There is scarcely a trace of 
the diplomat about him ; he is far too sentimental for 
that trade. He is not fit to be a negotiator ; he allows 
himself to be bluffed too easily ; he betrays his feelings 
and allows himself to be pumped." This was a pretty 
severe criticism of the man who, August 31, 1872, was 
almost unanimously voted by the French Chamber of 
Deputies to retain the presidency of the republic under 
the new constitution. 



PART VIII. 

FALSE RUMORS THICK AND FAST 

Following the excitement occasioned by the sur- 
render of Metz, October 27th, there was a comparative 
lull in Versailles. Rumors, however, most of them 
false, circulated faster than ever. One of these canards 
was that a counter revolution had broken out at Paris ; 
that the red republicans, under their leaders Blanqui, 
Pyatt and Flourens, had General Trochue, the mili- 
tary governor of Paris, and Jules Favre, arrested ; also 
that Bazain and McMahon had been exiled as traitors. 
All of these rumors were evidently invented by the 
French to counteract the dejection caused by the Metz 
surrender, which was, after Sedan, the most momen- 
tous of modern warfare. Three marshals — Bazain, 
Canrobert and Le Boeuflf — with 173,000 men and a 
vast amount of war material, fell in the hands of the 
German investing army under Prince Friedrich Carl. 

POMERANIANS AND THEIR GENERAL 

The second corps of Prince Friedrich Carl's army 
consisting of the Pomeranian garde landwehr, was 
ordered to join the army of the Crown Prince of 
Prussia before Paris. The occasion of their arrival 
was made a gala day. The King and all the ruling 
princes, including Leopold, the indirect cause of the 
war, were participating in the reception. The com- 
mander-in-chief, the Crown Prince, received them with 
the following proclamation: 

188 



FRICTION AT VERSAILLES 189 

"Soldiers of the Second Army Corps : This is the 
first time I see you in the field, under my command, 
although during many years past — during peace — I 
was your general commanding. I heartily welcome 
you. Your heroic deeds at Gravelot, as well as your 
great achievements at Metz, fill my heart with pride ; 
I confidently expect that both by our love for the 
Fatherland and our conduct before the enemy, we 
may continue to deserve the praise and approval of 
our most gracious King. Versailles, Nov. 12th, 1870. 
General Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of 
the Third Army." 

I should have mentioned that the King in recogni- 
tion of their distinguished services in the field, had 
created both his son and the Red Prince, Friedrich 
Carl, general field marshals of the realm, and upon 
Moltke he bestowed the hereditary title of Count. 

FRICIION AT VERSAILLES 

During the first half of November, as the weather 
changed for the worse, German stoicism began to 
waver some. The besieging troops, whose winter 
quarters consisted mostly of dugouts, which on 
account of incessant rains were at best but poor shelter 
against the inclemency of the weather, for the first 
time expressed their impatience at the delay of the 
long expected assault on Paris. The murmurings of 
the soldiers were heard at headquarters, where there 
was also a diversity of opinion as to how to reduce 
the besieged city — whether by assault or starvation. 
The Crown Prince and Bismarck were for starving 



190 REMINISCENCES 

them out, while the King and Moltke were for taking 
the city by bombardment and assault. 

It looked one time as if the King's and Moltke's 
plan would prevail, as the heavy Krupp siege guns 
began to arrive, but for one cause or another they 
were not placed in position, nor were there any signs 
of the corresponding ammunition to these guns. Mean- 
while, as I learned from Dr. Busch, negotiations for 
an armistice and peace were kept up by the Provisional 
French government at Tours, and Bismarck, through 
Thiers. At the head of the Tours government were 
Cremieu Glais-Bizoin, and Gambetta, who were not 
always in harmony with the powers at Paris; hence 
the negotiations dragged. The worst hitch came when 
while Thiers and Bismarck were intently engaged in 
negotiations, Ducrot and the Paris garrison made sev- 
eral sudden sorties; he was led to believe by 
false rumors that the army of the Loire under General 
d'Aurelle de Palladin was nearing Paris to its relief. 
It was, of course, a piece of downright treachery, which 
cost the French pretty dearly. Ducrot took the Ger- 
mans by surprise and drove the Wuertenbergers be- 
yond Champigni, the place whence I sent my first 
letter to the "Tribune" about two months before. The 
second army corps, however, ran to the assistance of 
the Wuertenbergers and quickly drove the French 
back behind the protecting guns of their surrounding 
forts. The Germans were now aroused to carry on 
hostilities "a I'outrance," and the siege guns were now 
being placed in position. Meanwhile the administra- 
tion of the various surrounding towns, including Ver- 
sailles, became more rigorous. AGerman, the son-in- 



FRICTION AT VEESAILLES 191 

law of Von Roon, minister of war, was made prefect 
of the Department of the Seine and Oise. Back taxes 
were collected wherever possible, and requisitions were 
made for almost everything — and enforced. For in- 
stance, on one occasion the maire of a small bourg was 
required to open the private cellars of the town and 
take out and furnish the wine required. The maire, 
however, refused to do this, saying: "I shall not lend 
my cloak of office to cover up this legalized robbery." 
On another occasion, a requisition was made on the 
mdire of Versailles to furnish several thousand candle- 
sticks, but as not one hundredth part of the number 
required could be obtained in the whole department, 
the maire hit upon a clever scheme, by having his 
carpenters saw up boards into thousands of little 
square pieces, with rough holes bored into their center, 
and when all ready, presented them to the quarter- 
master general with the remark: "Ici sont les chande- 
liers.' (Here are the candlesticks). If the siege had 
lasted another six months, Versailles would have be- 
come so thoroughly Germanized that the shades of 
Louis Quatorze and Napoleon Bonaparte would have 
risen in their graves. Wherever one turned his eyes 
would meet signs like these : "Bundeskanzlei," "Kriegs- 
ministerium," and "Poliseichef." 

The reinforcements received by the Crown Prince 
of Prussia from the victorious army from Metz por- 
tended an early bombardment of the doomed city. The 
heavy siege guns, which after untold difficulties were 
massed together at Villa Coublay, about twelve miles 
southeast from Paris, were being made ready. There 
never was seen before such a formidable array of 



192 REMINISCENCES 

death-dealing instruments at one place. There were 
398 pieces of various calibre guns and mortars in that 
park. Its aggregate capacity was 400,000 shots, the 
weights of which ranged from six pounds breech load- 
ers to fifty-pound mortars. Some of them were brought 
from Strassburg and other forts that had surrendered. 

On beholding these instruments of death, I for the 
first time realized that the starvation process of taking 
Paris would soon be replaced by the sterner method 
of reducing it by means of shot and shell. 

I had many friends among the French residents of 
Versailles. Being a non-combatant and an American, 
they came to me with all their troubles, imaginary and 
real. Among other things they asked me if I really 
believed that the Prussians (they never used the word 
"Germans") were in earnest of bombarding Paris, and 
thus adding to the brutality of starving out women 
and children, the atrocity of shooting them down in 
cold blood. "Then why don't you surrender the city?" 
was my next question to them. 

"Ah, mais I'honneur, monsieur!" was invariably 
their answer. Here again the overstraining of a false 
conception of what constituted honor became akin to 
idiocy. I was reminded of the colored brother who 
was mocked for running away in battle, when he re- 
plied : "What is honor and what is glory to this 
nigger when him is dead and gone?" 

WINTER AND SNOW 

The snow flurries during the first week in Decem- 
ber indicated an early winter. The regimental bands 
kept up their daily afternoon concerts in the Place des 



MY LAST TOUR AROUND PARIS 193 

Armes. This helped to a large extent to drive away 
the ennui of the garrison. Everything pointed to an 
early closing of the campaign before Paris, and for 
that matter in the whole of France, where fort after 
fort was reduced, and both the armies of General 
Chanzay and Bourbakie were badly beaten by the 
armies of the Red Prince and General Manteufifel. I 
could plainly see that the beginning of the end was 
nigh at hand, and that my usefulness in front of the 
besieged city would soon be over. I therefore decided, 
before quitting, to make another tour around Paris. 

MY LAST TOUR AROUND PARIS 

Having disposed of my horse "Sedan," on account 
of its too slow gait, I engaged a French chaise with 
two good horses, to take me around the city. I calcu- 
lated that it would take me about a week to accomplish 
this. That is, provided that no unexpected obstacles 
would interfere. We took the road towards Saint Ger- 
main; arrived there, we drove up to the headquarters 
of the Platz commandant to have our papers vised. 
This new order had been introduced because of the 
many spies that had been apprehended. I often won- 
dered how the news from Versailles to Paris, and from 
Paris to all parts of the country, was spread so rapidly, 
A French gentleman, in confidence, enlightened me 
on the subject. He said that the French vegetable 
vendors made the best news carriers in the world; 
they were freely admitted with their wares within the 
German as well as within the French lines, and thus 
imparted their observations, which were often quite 
acute, to their countrymen. 



194 EEMINISCENCES 

While tarrying at Saint Germain and waiting for 
my papers to be examined, I beheld one of the most 
pathetic sights of this war. There were scores of 
French women and children, with a small sprinkling 
of old men, congregated before the Platz command- 
ant's headquarters, begging for something to eat. The 
supplicants, it must be remembered, were not profes- 
sional beggars, but peasant women and children resid- 
ing around Paris, and who during the last three 
months were despoiled of everything in the shape of 
food for man and beast they had by the roving Uhlans 
and Dragoons, who were sent out to requisition sup- 
plies for the besieging army. It is such an aftermath 
that makes all wars repugnant to right thinking people. 

After having received my papers we drove through 
the extensive forest of St. Germain, where we met 
many German officers hunting for deer, the woods 
having been full of them. We soon reached Argen- 
teuil, which is about seven to eight miles northwest 
from Paris. On our way we passed the Chateau La 
Fitte of champagne celebrity. We hurriedly went 
through the chateau and admired many of its paint- 
ings hanging on the walls undisturbed, as they were 
left by their owners. By a strange coincidence there 
was a painting of "Wilhelmshohe," where the Man of 
Destiny was sent as a prisoner of war after the sur- 
render at Sedan. 

MONTMORENCY AND ENGHIEN 

After having left Argenteuil, which by the way 
furnishes Paris with the finest celery in the market, 
we reached ]\fontmorency, which is about twelve miles 



HARD TO FIND LODGINGS 195 

southwest from Paris, and intending to stop there over 
nightj \.e went to the only hotel in town, called "Hotel 
ail cheval Blanc." We could not, however, be accom- 
modatedj as it was overcrowded with soldiers and 
officers. The history of this hotel and its sign is quite 
romantic. It boasts of having given shelter to more 
crowned heads, princes, poets, authors and other dis- 
tinguished men in art and literature than any hotel 
in Christendom. It was built in 1737 by Leduc ; some 
years after its erection a company of hon vivants com- 
posed of artists, authors and poets, visited Mont- 
morency (which was also known as Enghien) in order 
to enjoy its bracing atmosphere, where, as the inhabi- 
tants of Montmorency boastfully said, cholera while 
ravaging the whole country never entered within its 
limits. The visitors tarried there for several weeks 
enjoying the best the hotel had in food and wines, 
and when at last the day of settlement came they 
could not scrape together enough to pay the expenses 
of even one single member of the party. They finally 
compromised the matter by having a member of this 
gay company, who was a celebrated artist, paint the 
sign of the hotel, which he did, and which was con- 
sidered the chef d'oeuvre among all hotel signs. 

HARD TO FIND LODGINGS 

The town of Montmorency was so overcrowded 
with soldiers and officers that we could find no place 
to shelter us for the night. I at last accosted a young 
German officer and asked him to lead us to the head- 
quarters of the Platz commandant, which he did. We 
found the commandant. Major von Fuchs of the Nine- 



196 EEMINISCENCES 

ty-third Regiment of Anhalt Dessau, a very genial 
gentleman, who sent us to a large squarely built stone 
house, where we found a place to sleep on some hay 
scattered on the floor. The first floor of this house 
was used as the company's butcher shop, and the Erare 
grand piano that stood in one corner as the butcher's 
block, on which the meat was cut up. There we spent 
the night, but as to sleep, that was out of the question, 
as the continuous firing on the picket line prevented 
our doing so. 

AN ELEGANT SUPPER 

Our young officer who led us to the commandant 
was a young baronet and every inch a gentleman, for 
seeing that we would be unable to find a place where 
we could get our supper, he invited us to sup with 
him. It was a most remarkable supper to have in the 
field and only a few miles from the enemy. It con- 
sisted of the choicest kinds of delicacies that money 
could procure. The most satisfying dish to me, how- 
ever, was the Erbsenwurst Suppe (pea sausage soup). 
It is made of dried mashed peas mixed with hashed 
pork. To the inventor of this palatable dish is due 
almost as much credit for the victories achieved by 
the German armies as to Dreise, the inventor of the 
Prussian needle gun. 

Our host, the young officer, sent for a non-commis- 
sioned officer of his regiment who, after supper, enter- 
tained us late into the night with playing classical 
selections of music on the Erare grand piano. 

At the time of my visit to Montmorency, Generals 
Schwartzhoff and Tillintsky had their headquarters 



DUCEOT'S ARMY BEOKEN UP 197 

there. This was the same Tillintsky who, as colonel 
of the Twenty-seventh regiment, carried by storm the 
woods occupied by the Austrians at Koeniggratz in 
1866. I further learned from my young officer that 
Major von Fuchs was the only field officer of his regi- 
ment left unhurt after the sortie by the French, Sep- 
tember 30th last. 

After a brief visit to the "Hermitage," once the 
residence of Jean Jacques Rousseau, we descended the 
hill into the famous valley of Montmorency, and vis- 
ited the baths at Enghien les Bains. Here was the 
chateau of Princess Mathilde, cousin of Emperor Na- 
poleon HI. This chateau once belonged to the Prince 
of Conde, whom the first Napoleon had apprehended 
on neutral territory, had him brought to France and 
beheaded on the very night of his arrival. This treach- 
erous act added an additional indellible stain on Napo- 
leon Bonaparte's escutcheon. 

From Enghien les Bains we drove as far as the 
Saint Denis railroad, where we were halted by the 
German outposts. Further progress was denied us 
because of the extensive preparations that were made 
for the bombardment of Paris all along the line. There 
was nothing left for us to do but to retrace our steps 
towards Versailles, where we arrived after an absence 
of four days, and after having covered about seventy- 
five miles. 

ducrot's army broken up 

After our return to Versailles we learned that dur- 
ing the last sortie Ducrot's army was badly broken up. 
It was evident that France was no longer the country 



198 REMINISCENCES 

that produced a Napoleon Bonaparte, a Massena, a 
Moreau and a Hoche under the First Republic, and a 
Nye, a Soult, a Murat, a Davoust, a Kellerman and a 
Lannes under the First Empire. The trouble with 
the French army during the Second Empire was the 
lack of confidence of the rank and file in the officers, 
from the highest to the lowest grade. The French 
soldier was not devoid of physical courage; what he 
lacked was moral courage, and that can be acquired 
only by the high standard of the morale of its officers. 
The corrupt influences of the Second Empire had a 
blighting eflfect upon the morale of the French army 
officers. The French arms, both large and small, were 
fully as good as those of the Germans ; the Chassepot 
as good as the needle gun; while Victor de Reppy's 
mitrailleuse was, as a rapid firing instrument, superior 
to anything the German army had. 

THE RECLOTHING OF THE GERMAN ARMY 

Winter having come upon Paris and its surround- 
ings earlier in 1870 than usual, the troops began to 
shiver in their bedraggled clothing, in which they had 
fought so many battles. The whole army surrounding 
Paris was reclothed from head to foot, with the excep- 
tion of gloves. I never could find out the reason why 
they were not furnished with gloves as well as with 
other articles of clothing. 

HUNTING FOR FRANCTIRREURS 

Even during the quietest days of the siege there 
never was any lack of some excitement or other in 
Versailles. During the last half of December spies 



CEOWN OFFEEED TO KING WILLIAM 199 

were reported to be loitering within the German lines. 
A house to house search was ordered to be made. 
One evening while I was engaged in writing in my 
room, the daughter of my landlady burst into the room 
and all out of breath informed me that the Prussian 
soldiers were searching the house. I immediately 
opened the door of my room, when I was confronted 
by a squad of soldiers under the command of a ser- 
geant, who informed me in French that they were 
searching for Franc tirreurs, who were reported as be- 
ing secreted in the houses of the city, whereupon I 
politely invited him, in German, to enter and make the 
search. He at once apologized: "Ach, entschuldi- 
gen; sie sind ja ein Landsman" (Oh, excuse me; you 
are a compatriot). And with this they left the house, 
to the great relief of my landlady and her daughter. 

THE IMPERIAL CROWN OFFERED TO KING WILLIAM 

A deputation from the German Reichsrath came to 
Versailles during the latter part of December to offer 
to King William the imperial crown of United Ger- 
many. That King William was to be the logical em- 
peror of Germany was, of course, well known and 
decided upon soon after the victories won at Gravelot 
and Sedan. I predicted it in one of my letters to the 
"Tribune" weeks before the arrival of the deputation 
sent by the Reichsrath. The deputation consisted of 
thirty-two members, who were selected from the vari- 
ous political parties of that time. Nearly all were 
lodged at the Hotel Reservoir, whence after luncheon 
they were driven in carriages and yellow painted mail 
wagons to the Prefecture, where the King lodged. 



200 EEMINISCENCES 

Arrived there, they marched up to the building, led by 
the venerable Herr Simon, the president of the Reichs- 
rath, and who already in 1848 was one of those who 
offered to King William the imperial crown of Ger- 
many. Herr Simon had for his walking companion 
Count von Moltke, Prince Ludwig, the casus belli of 
the Franco-Prussian war, was also there, as was Baron 
Rothschild, the uncle of Alfonso, in whose palace at 
Ferrieres the King had his headquarters. Only one cor- 
respondent was invited to attend the ceremony, and 
that was the artist and correspondent of the London 
Illustrated News, who was to sketch this historical 
scene. 

As a result of this mission. King William was pro- 
claimed Emperor of Germany of the 19th of January, 
1871, in the beautiful salle des glaces of Versailles. 
On that very day the French made another unsuccess- 
ful sortie from Fort Mont Valerian. They evidently 
had an inkling of what was going on and attempted to 
prevent the desecration of the historical palace of Ver- 
sailles by the crowning ceremonies of a German em- 
peror. 

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS 

The most anomalous spectacle I witnessed during 
my temporary residence at Versailles were the Christ- 
mas services held in the various churches during the 
Christmas holidays. The church of the "Notre Dame" 
was appropriated by the Catholic soldiers from Ba- 
varia, Saxony and Posen, or Prussian Poland. Ger- 
man and French priests alternated in reading mass. 
Very few Frenchmen attended these services, while 




()\ JAXrAItV ISl'H. 1ST1, WILLIAM L OKAXl H'ATIIKIt OF TIIL I'KKSKXT 
KAISKU. WAS l'K()('LAL\li:i) ( ilOli.VLW KMl'EItoK AT VKKSAILLKS 



SIEGE GUNS IN POSITION 201 

the women and children who did attend, I fear, did 
not harbor the feelings of brotherly love towards the 
intruders, as commanded by Him whose nativity they 
were celebrating. "May heaven listen to their prayers 
for the restoration of good will and peace," was the 
fervent prayer of a Protestant clergyman in a Protest- 
ant church, where the German soldiers professing the 
faith of Luther and Calvin were attending divine serv- 
ices. The Christmas festivities lasted two days. Tens 
of thousands of Liebesgaben (Christmas gifts) which 
were brought from the Vaterland between the 15th of 
October and the 15th of November (the time specified 
by the German mail department as the limit for their 
transportation to the army in the field) caused good 
cheer among the troops.^ The English and American 
war correspondents also celebrated the occasion by a 
dinner to the fraternity and their invited guests. A 
large number of "Iron Cros5^ medals were distributed, 
so that in spite of the surrounding evidences of war, 
the nativity of the Prince of Peace was celebrated be- 
fore Paris with good cheer. 

SIEGE GUNS IN POSITION 

The Christmas festivities did not in the least inter- 
fere with the placing of the guns in position around 
the doomed city. Letters which were found in a cap- 
tured balloon spoke of the sad condition in which the 
Parisians found themselves. It was for most of them a 
sad Christmas, when neither meat nor vegetables 
could be had for either love or money. The letters 
spoke of how the starving populace were ravenously 
devouring dogs and rats to still their hunger. It was 



202 REMINISCENCES 

further reported that the municipal authorities had 
decided to sell at auction the animals of the Jardin des 
Plants; also that Mr. Washburn, the American am- 
bassador, was furnishing passports to numerous Eng- 
lishmen and Americans who wished to leave the city 
before the bombardment began. 

Lieutenant Colonel von Verdy, of Moltke's stafif, 
and the historian of the war, was sent to Paris under 
a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the city, 
and at the same time to inform them indirectly of the 
total defeat of the army of the Loire at Orleans. He 
was further to invite officers of the French garrison 
to come within the German lines and see for them- 
selves the uselessness of their further resistance. 

THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS 

Von Verdy's mission having failed the King's pa- 
tience was exhausted and he gave the command to 
start in and reduce the recalcitrant city by force. 
Forts Mont Valerian and d'Issy were the first to be 
attacked. They were the most formidable of all the 
forts around Paris, for once they were reduced, the 
others, as well as the walls, with their 92 bastions, 
would crumble to pieces as if made of cardboard. It 
did not take long to reduce Fort d'Issy, but fort Mont 
Valerian, which the gamins of Paris in derision nick- 
named "Pere Grimeaud," belched forth its 90 and 180 
pound missiles in reply to the 50 pound shells of the 
Spandau Riesen moerser (Giant mortars). The con- 
test continued with unabated vigor for several days, 
when the German shells began to drop around the Arc 
de Triomph, and threatened the demolition of the 



PEACE PEELIMINARIES 203 

Statue of "Resistance"' that crowns the top of the Arc. 
The defense became less spirited, and by the 14th of 
January, after the fort had greatly suffered and its 
cassemates were riddled with shot and shell, the garri- 
ons of the fort made a last desparate effort to break 
through the German lines, but they were mercilessly 
mowed down by the German battallions and their 
matchless artillery. The game was up. The seething 
passions of the proletariat against the bourgeoise 
showed themselves in the sundry riots which the Garde 
Nationale (whose task it was to preserve the peace of 
the city) had great difficulty in repressing. The news 
of the defeat of the army in the south had been con- 
firmed by dispatches received from their own generals. 
There was nothing left but to bow to the inevitable, 
so that on the 28th of January an armistice was signed 
by the contestants, containing the provision that the 
regulars and mobiles were to be kept as prisoners of 
war, while the German troops would take possession 
of and occupy all the forts around Paris; meanwhile 
the city would be permitted to be revictualized. 

PEACE PRELIMINARIES 

On the 27th of January, 1871, Emperor William 
telegraphed to Empress Augusta the following: 
"With a deeply moved heart, in gratitude to God, I in- 
form you that the preliminaries have been signed ; the 
Bordeau assembly must yet ratify them. (Signed) 
Wilhelm." 

Twenty days later the drama of the Franco-Prus- 
sian war, having been closed, was replaced by the 
tragedy of the Paris Commune, the disgrace not of 



204 BEMINISCENCES 

France alone, but of the age and the civilization of 
which the ages boast. 

END OF THE SIEGE 

My duties as special correspondent of the Chicago 
"Tribune" at the Siege of Paris having ended, I made 
preparations to quit Versailles and France without 
entering Paris. Although I had various reasons for 
not entering Paris with the victorious army, my chief 
reason was that I did not care to be a witness to the 
great humiliation of the misled French people. I had 
seen Paris in all its splendor and grandeur only the 
year before, and seeing it after the capitulation would 
have only caused me pain, for I knew from the des- 
criptions which I read that the city resembled more 
a dead than a live community. 

SOCIAL LIFE IN VERSAILLES 

One cannot well judge of the social life of any city 
while it is under the occupation of an enemy ; but as 
far as I could observe, social life in Versailles during 
peaceful and normal times must have been of the high- 
est order. I should here remark that Versailles was 
the only city west of Rheims where there was not a 
general exodus of its people at the approach of the 
Germans. I was fortunate enough to hail from a 
country whose traditional amity and good will was 
well known to the French people, so I was far from 
being shunned by the Versaillese. On the contrary 
I was invited to many of the social functions of the 
literati of the city, although I could, on account of my 
duties as correspondent, accept but few. 



WAR COEEESPONDENTS 20S 

While attending some of these social functions, I 
had to exercise the greatest caution in what I said, 
for as soon as they learned that I was an American 
newspaper correspondent, they came to me with all 
manner of complaints against the invaders. 

I recall one occasion when I was attending a literary 
soiree given by the Mai re of the city, and where I met 
a certain authoress, Madame Adele Honman, who 
came to me saying: "Oh, Monsier, La belle France 
will remain la grand nation, even if she should go 
down in defeat as Greece and Carthage did," to which 
I replied: "Ah Madame, La belle France will be 
remembered as a grand nation, the same as Greece and 
Carthage are remembered." 

WAR CORRESPONDENTS AT THE SIEGE OF PARIS q 

When I first reached Versailles, in December, ISZ'f, 
there were but few correspondents with the third army 
before Paris. As the siege progressed their number 
increased. The British press was well represented 
by Captain Walker, the military attache to the British 
Embassy in Berlin, Captain Hosier, the military corres- 
pondent of the London "Times ;" Dr. Russell, with a 
lot of horses, secretaries and lackeys, also of the Lon- 
don "Times ;" Sir Henry Havelock, nephew of the 
Havelock of Luckonow fame. All of these corres- 
pondents made themselves disliked by the French on 
account of their unreasonable exactions ; none of them, 
with the possibe exception of Sir Henry Havelock, 
ever thought of paying for anything they got in the 
shape of forage or food while on their tours around 



306 EEMINISCENCES 

Paris. Often I had Frenchmen ask me whether Great 
Britian was at war with France. 

Of German correspondents, special mention must 
be made of Dr. Kaysler, the Berlin general correspond- 
ent of the Associated Press; Hans Blum, of the 
"Daheim," an illustrated periodical published at Leip- 
zig. The last two gentlemen I often met at the home 
of Dr. Bush, the secretary of Prince Bismarck. Dr. 
Kaysler was the correspondent who, getting weary of 
waiting for the taking of Paris, left for the South of 
France early in December to join the army of Von 
der Tann. He urged me to go with him, but as I was 
sent to report the siege of Paris, I did not feel justi- 
fied in exchanging my post. For a long time he was 
lost sight of, until his wife received a letter from him 
from Pau, in the Department of the Basse Pyrene, 
where he was detained as a prisoner of war. The 
correspondents of the German press did not enjoy 
as much latitude in reporting passing events as the 
English or American. The correspondent of a Col- 
ogne paper committed suicide in Versailles for be- 
ing reprimanded by the German War office. 

My descriptions of the correspondents before Paris 
would be incomplete, were I not to refer to the 
comic incident I witnessed on December 19th. While 
standing before the Hauptquartier of the Platz Com- 
mandant, I noticed a queer procession, composed of 
a half a dozen civilians under guard, approaching me. 
I at once recognized the gentlemen as my fellow cor- 
respondents of the British press. Captain Hosier, 
who was one of them, was wrathy beyond description. 
He swore vengance for(as he termed it) this unheard 



EEFLECTIONS ON THE SIEGE 207 

of outrage on the British flag. The incident was, how- 
ever, soon forgotten, after some explanations given 
by the officer of the guard, who arrested them for 
trespassing on forbidden ground. 

Captain Johnson, an English army officer who passed 
through the German lines into Paris too frequently, 
was finally warned by one of the Generals at the out- 
posts that if he should be found again within the lines 
he would be shot. He was not seen after that 
warning. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE SIEGE 

While the hardships I underwent before Paris were 
quite onerous, the experiences I gained were valuable 
to me in more than one way. As I said, I was at- 
tached to the Headquarters of the King; my name 
appeared on the rolls of war correspondents. The 
King's Headquarters were with the third army under 
his royal son, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. I found that 
many of my preconceived ideas and notions of the Ger- 
man soldiers and officers were faulty. And while I 
admired them for their fine and healthy looks, as well 
as for their discipline, I could not withhold my ad- 
miration at the same time for the clean and physical 
bravery of the French regulars and the mobiles. When 
I spoke of the discipline I should have excepted the 
Bavarians, whose discipline was very slack. They had 
no commissary department worthy of the name ; when 
they arrived at a given place they generally scattered 
in small squads in the villages nearest their encamp- 
ments ; they soon returned loaded with provisions and 
wine, which were then distributed in the camp. When' 



g08 EEMINISCENCES 

the Bavarian was billeted on a Frenchman, he not be- 
ing able to speak the vernacular, would take out his 
watch and point out the figures, 9, 12, 3 and 6, repeat- 
ing the words which he had learnt: "Ici dejeuner," 
"ici diner," "ici souper" and "ici boire" (Here break- 
fast, here dinner, here supper and here drinking.) 
Nevertheless, all these things were done with such 
good humor that the host could not get angry at him ; 
then besides, they were coreligionists and Catholics, 
which in France among the peasantry covers a multi- 
tude of sins. Still, after all that can be said and writ- 
ten against the harshness and rigorous treatment of 
the French by their German invaders, one must not 
forget that war is not a holiday pastime, and that the 
French were the provokers of the war. While I have 
seen men condemned to the gibbet for firing from their 
houses on the retreating German army at Bougival, 
I have also witnessed crowds of French old men and 
women fed by the German commissary department at 
Saint Germain, Those French refugees reminded me 
of Roger's clay statuettes of "Union refugees" which 
were the rage during our Civil War. 

AN APPEAL TO CHICAGO 

Before leaving Versailles for home, an appeal for aid 
was addressed to me by the council of the city, counter- 
signed by the Maire and the Prefect Bosely, with the 
request to have me send it to my home city, which 
request I cheerfully complied with. 

HOMEWARD BOUND 

Leaving Versailles early in the spring, I visited 
Strassburg, the city which I expected to find badly 



KEIEGSEINZUG 209 

damaged, but which I found, with the exception of a 
few holes through its famous cathedral and some 
other buildings, but little damaged. I next visited Ber- 
lin and Hamburg, and after a voyage of nearly two 
weeks reached New York and Chicago. Taking pas- 
sage on a German liner, we had to go north of the 
Shetland Islands for fear of meeting some French 
cruisers who had not yet received the news of the end- 
ing of the war, 

I arrived in Chicago in time to witness the great 
German celebration over the re-establishment of 
peace. 

I stopped but a short time at hom?, when I re-em- 
barked on a steamer for Glasgow, Scotland, and 
reached Berlin soon after. This time I had my family, 
consisting of my wife, son and daughter, with me. 

KRIEGSEINZUG 

I managed to be in Berlin during the Kriegseinsug 
or the "triumphal entry of the German veterans" of 
the Franco-Prussian war, and the unveiling of the 
statute of King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, all of 
which took place June 18, 1871. The crowd had been 
gathering for two weeks previous to that date, from 
all parts of Germany. The weather was ideal. The 
streets on the line of march were gaily decorated, and 
there were many triumphal arches erected on the pub- 
lic squares. There were also many stands along Unter 
den Linden and other streets, which were on the line 
of march erected for the accommodation of the vast 
throngs. There were about two thousand captured 
cannon planted on both sides of the streets where the 



210 EEMINISCENCES 

procession took place. At the head of the procession 
were carried the captured French eagles and standards. 
Large trophies were built of the numerous French 
firearms and swords. 

After the first division of the victorious column had 
passed the Brandeburg gate, the Emperor with his 
train of German crownheads and princes were received 
by a deputation of Berlin's municipal government; 
also by deputations from other cities in Germany. 
Presently, when the Emperor at the head of his bril- 
liant cortege rode down the Via Triumphalis which 
had been constructed in honor of the occasion, his 
path was covered with flowers which hundreds of girls 
dressed in white, had strewn. The procession of war- 
riors now entered the gate with the Prussian guards 
leading. Every regiment that took part in the war 
was represented by a detachement with the regimental 
colors. It took several hours for the procession to 
pass the point from which I, with my family, watched 
it passing. By special permission from the sentinel 
guarding the cannon in front of it, I was allowed to 
place my children on the top of one of the cannons, 
whence to watch the pageant. 

At the close of the procession the Emperor pro- 
ceeded to unveil the statute of Friedrich Wilhelm. He 
was assisted in that ceremony by nearly all the rul- 
ing princes, Generals and members of the Reicherath, 
Empress Augusta being present with her ladies in 
waiting, seated in the Imperial carriage, while Crown 
Princess Victoria, with her children, seated in another 
royal carriage, also graced the occasion. 

After the firing of the salute had ceased, the Em- 



KRIEGSEINZUG 311 

peror dismounted, and standing at the base of the 
statute, delivered himself of the following: "This 
monument, which was projected in time of peace, now 
becomes a memorial of one of the most brilliant, 
though bloodiest, of modern wars. May the peace so 
dearly achieved be a lasting one." 

The day's cermonies ended with the conferring of 
honors on the victorious commanders. Numerous 
orders of merit were granted by the Emperor. Heredi- 
tary commands of the most distinguished regiments 
were given to various generals. Among the most 
highly honored ones were George, the Crown Prince 
of Saxony, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, and General 
von Roon, who was created hereditary Count of the 
German Empire. Count von Moltke was made Field 
Marshall of the Imperial Army, while Count von Bis- 
marck gained the title of Prince of the Empire, 

Thus ended the triumphal entry of the victorious 
army into Berlin. But at what cost? The cost in blood 
and money is too stupendous even to contemplate. Only 
the silent mourners of the dead and maimed of both 
nations can tell of the pangs endured during, and 
long after, the struggle. In view of the present politi- 
cal conditions of the conquered territories, the con- 
quest was but a hollow mockery. The time has gone 
by when territories and states may be bartered away 
without the consent of its people. The three millard 
francs, an amount three times as much as Germany 
could raise as revenue in one year during those days 
did not enrich her, nor impoverish France. Both 
countries have fully recovered financially, and not a 
vestige remains of that struggle. France, if anything, 



212 REMINISCENCES 

shows the greater material prosperity than does Ger- 
many. Had Napoleon listened to the advice given 
him by his consort, the Empress Eugenie, he might 
not have died in exile, and France would have been 
spared the disgrace of defeat. Her advice to Napoleon 
as it has been told me by some of the best informed 
men of that time, was: "To keep his promises with 
the nation," for, as she said : "I do not love the use of 
force, and I am satisfied that it is impossible to make 
two coups d'etats during the same government." 

From Berlin I took my family to Marienbad, where 
I spent about three weeks, and where I renewed my 
acquaintance with Dr. Lucca, who attended me while 
I was there in 1869, taking the baths. This Dr. Lucca 
was the uncle of the celebrated prima donna, Paulina 
Lucca, who was often heard both in New York and 
Chicago. 

From Marienbad we went direct to Vienna, where 
we took apartments, expecting to spend the winter in 
the imperial city, but as the German saying has it : 
"Der Mensch denkt und Gott lenkt." (Man pro- 
poseth but God disposeth.) The great Chicago fire, 
which occurred October 8th and 9th, 1871, to a great 
extent modified my previously adopted plans. 

Very soon after the Chicago catastrophe our family 
circle was increased by the arrival of a Chicago young 
lady, Miss Rosalie Magnusson, who came to Vienna to 
finish her musical education. I introduced her to Mr. 
Anton Rubinstein, the great pianist, who then lived at 
Vienna, who recommended her to one of the best 
teachers on the piano, then residing at Vienna, Prof. 
Anton Dorr. 



MUSICAL PEKFOEMANCE 213 

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE IN AID OF CHICAGO FIRE 
SUFFERERS 

In November 19th, 1871, I attended a musical and 
dramatic performance given by the various artists 
of the Vienna Opera House and the theatres of 
Vienna in aid of the Chicago fire sufferers at the Carl 
Theatre. The result of the performance was sent by 
Miss Minnie Hauck in the shape of about four thous- 
and florins to the Chicago Aid and Relief Society. 
The whole thing was engineered and carried out by 
this young girl, who worked day and night in making 
the performance an artistic and financial success. 

During the spring of 1872 I visited Buda-Pest on 
some business, and while there I had the honor of 
representing Mr, I. S. Kauser, our Vice Consul at that 
city, in receiving Mr. Wm. H. Seward and party on 
their homeward journey from the far east. The party 
consisted of Mr. Seward, his adopted daughter. Miss 
Olive Risley Seward, and her sister. Mr. Seward's 
stay at Buda-Pest lasted but one day. 

Returning to Vienna, I obtained a passport for 
Russia from our Minister, John Jay, and armed with 
this, I left for Southern Russia, visiting Berdischef, 
Gitomir, Odessa and Singury. At the latter place I 
stopped about a week with my Russian friend, Capt. 
Michailowsky, a retired officer of the Imperial Guard, 
who some years before had paid me a visit in Chicago. 

This having been my first visit to Russia, I was 
quite anxious to look into the characteristics of the 
people, who in their ignorance helped to forge their 



214 REMINISCENCES 

own chains, while in 1848 and 1849 they aided Austria 
to overthrow Hungarian independence. 

Although I was the possessor of a passport, issued 
to me by our American Ambassador Mr. John Jay at 
Vienna, I was under constant surveillance and espion- 
age. This espionage extended into the local Post 
office at Syngury, where, while I attempted to buy 
some stamps for letters to the United States, I was 
asked what information that letter contained. This 
Russian espionage extended not only to the principal 
but to all who are seen in his company day or night. 

My chief object aside from paying a visit to my 
Russian friend Capt Michailowsky, was to establish an 
agency at Odessa for the sale of the Marsh harvester, 
manufactured by the Marsh and Stewart Harvester 
Company at Piano, Ills. Unfortunately my friend, 
the Captain, was made the agent for all of Russia, I 
say unfortunately, it was so for him, for very soon 
after, he was sent ofif by the Government to Theo- 
dosia in Trancaucasia, into a quasi exile, where he 
soon died of a broken heart. 

Of course things have changed for the better since 
1872; the universal civilizing light that has spread all 
over the world during the last fifty years has done its 
work also in the land of Tolstoi. 

While I visited several cities in southern Russia, 
I found Odessa, the so called "Russian Florence," the 
most interesting; its commercial activity reminded me 
so much of our Chicago, except that Odessa has two 
harbors, while Chicago with its two and one half mil- 
lion inhabitants has none. It has splendid drives 



FOUETH OF JULY CELEBEATION 215 

along the sea shore and boasts of a splendid monu- 
ment erected to its founder, Duke Richelieu. 

From Russia I returned to Vienna, where great 
preparations were being made for the Vienna World's 
Fair. Through my friend General P. S. Post, our 
Consul General at Vienna, I obtained from Baron 
Schwartz Senborn, Director General of the fair, a 
concession to erect an American Bar and Restaurant. 

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION IN VIENNA 

The national holiday, the 4th of July, 1872, was 
fitly celebrated as it should be by a lineal descendant 
of the patriot whose name he worthily bore, John 
Jay. Nearly all the Ambassadors and Ministers of 
foreign nations were present. Patriotic speeches were 
made by Mr. Jay and Gen. Post, our Consul General, 
while I had the honor of responding to the toast of 
"The Enlightened Press." 

After having obtained the concession above re- 
ferred to, I returned to Chicago and went to work to 
purchase everything that should make the enterprise a 
credit to the United States, as well as a financial suc- 
cess. Returning to Vienna, after having made extensive 
purchases in Chicago, New York, London and Paris, I 
arrived February 25th, 1873. I soon went to work, 
and in spite of all obstacles that were laid in my way 
by the inefficiency of our World's Fair Commissioner, 
who all along had fought my concession, I was the 
only one that had his place open for business on the 
first day of May, the day the Fair opened. 

The venture, however, proved a disastrous one, for 
instead of making anything I lost considerable money ; 



216 EEMINISCENCES 

but after all, I had gained many friends among for- 
eigners as well as among Americans who visited my 
restaurant. The main reason for the financial failure 
of nearly all undertakings in that Fair was the scare of 
the cholera which prevailed then in Austria, and also 
the general trade depressions prevailing all over the 
continent and also in the United States. 

While my venture was not a financial success owing 
to adverse conditions, I still carry in my memory the 
good which my letters to the Chicago Tribune did on 
paving the way of exporting manufactured machinery 
and more especially harvesting machinery, such as 
the McCormick, the Champion and the Marsh har- 
vesters. 

After the close of the Fair I returned to Chicago, 
where soon after my arrival I picked up the thread 
of my commercial life on the Chicago Board of Trade, 
which I had joined several years before I took my 
first trip to my native country in 1869. 

Since 1873, my life on the Board of Trade had its 
ups and downs, the perusal of which would not in- 
terest my readers. Whatever might be of interest 
relating to my individual life and doings is largely 
incorporated in the several articles which I have 
written, entitled, "The Chicago Board of Trade — Its 
uses and abuses," and published in the American "Eleva- 
tor and Grain Trade" during 1910 and 1911. 



SEP 22 \9\l 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
SFP 23 191 1 



